St. Thomas women’s hockey will face off against Wisconsin River Falls in the first round of the Division III women’s ice hockey championship tournament.

One of five to automatically qualify, St. Thomas made it to the playoffs for the third year in a row after a 2-1 home win over Bethel Saturday in the conference finals.

“Our goal at the beginning of the season was to win the MIAC and the playoffs and get to the Frozen Four, then ultimately win a national title. So, we have knocked out the first two goals, and this would be goal number three,” said head coach Tom Palkowski.

St. Thomas (20-5-2) is 6-0-1 in its last seven games since losing 1-0 in overtime to Concordia 1-0 on Feb. 6. The Tommies have allowed just 45 goals in 23 games and two or fewer goals in 21 of their 27 contests. They are 9-2 in one-goal decisions and 15-0-2 in games when they score the first goal.

River Falls is 21-5-2 overall and defeated St. Thomas 3-0 on Jan. 27. St. Thomas defeated River Falls 2-1 on Oct. 31 in the season opener.

“We play them every year and we know each other pretty well,” Palkowski said. “It should be a good tight, fun hockey game,”