The underdogs that don't mind it a bit.

After skating away from the field to win the 2025 Western Women's Collegiate Hockey League Championship for the first time in its nine-year history, the Grand Canyon University Women's Hockey team has officially learned its fate as it heads to the American Collegiate Hockey League Women's Division 1 National Championships next month in St. Louis, Missouri. The 12^th-seeded Lopes will close out the first day of tournament play against the top team in the nation, Liberty University (from Virginia), on Monday night, March 17. They'll then get a day off before finishing off the pool-play round on Wednesday, March 19 against 8^th-seeded Niagara University (New York).

The euphoria that fans and players alike experienced as the Lopes (14-17 overall) hoisted the WWCHL Championship trophy Sunday at AZ Ice Gilbert will undoubtedly extend throughout the next month as the team prepares to head to "The Show-Me State" at the end of GCU's spring break. The Lopes' performance over the weekend was sobering to top-seeded University of Colorado as GCU led from wire-to-wire in a 6-2 title-game win, but the 17 goals the team in purple put up over the three days showed the ACHA that it is truly playing its finest hockey of the season at the right time. It took some time for the team to rally around the philosophy of 1^st-year Lopes' Head Coach Reid Miller, but an overtime win in November over conference rival Colorado State University showed progress, then a 6-5 upset of 15^th-ranked Michigan State University at AZ Ice Arcadia in mid-January gave the team something to hang its hat on. The late-season offensive surge by Lopes' senior forward (and WWCHL Tournament Most Valuable Player) Reese Gingrich (who wound up tied for the nation's lead in goals scored with 25) helped the younger phenoms like Rory Arteaga, Ava Johnson, Sophie Armit and Natalya Hooey come into their own; while four-year starting goalie Hannah Schneidmiller handled opposing teams' barrages with a stern focus (92.3% save percentage).

Miller and Company know they will be severely tested by a Flames' program gunning for its seventh national title in the last decade. Liberty will be a motivated team heading to St. Louis after seeing their run of five straight national championships end last March – courtesy of conference rival Minot State University, who stopped the Flames in double overtime in the ACHA National Semifinals. This year, the Flames exacted a bit of revenge, going defensive in a 2-1 victory over the Beavers in the Women's Midwest College Hockey Tournament final last Saturday. Now the 21-3 Flames will enter the 12-team field as the nation's most dangerous team, thanks to Alexandra Keith and her stingy 1.39 goals-against average in net, and the one-two punch of forwards Brielle Fussy and Zosia Adamek (32 goals and 20 assists combined) on the attack.

The Lopes' first two national tournament games will both take place at 5PM (Arizona time) as they battle Liberty on Monday, March 17, then GCU will play the final pool-play game of the tournament against Niagara at the same puck drop time two days later. The top four teams from pool play will advance to the final four, with the national champion hoisting the trophy on Friday, March 21.