BOSTON, MA - Seven women ice hockey players still playing for national titles head the two All-American Squads announced today as those tournaments are about to open. Brown defeseman Tara Mounsey and Minnesota-Duluth forward Jenny Schmidgall will play in the four-team Division I tournament, while five of the seven Division III honorees come from the two Division III finalists, Middlebury and Augsburg.

The only repeat selection from last year's Division I First Team is Harvard defenseman Angela Ruggierio. The Division III squad announced is the inaugural Division III All-American team. The nation's varsity women's coaches voted to select a single Division I and a single Division III team this year. The teams are sponsored by the American Women's College Hockey Alliance (AWCHA).

On July 8, 1997, USA Hockey was awarded a United States Olympic Comrnittee/National Collegiate Athletic Association Conference Grant that is designed to promote institutional sponsorship of Olympic sports at the college level. The purpose of the AWCHA is to organize and develop activities with women's intercollegiate varsity ice hockey teams and to nationally promote the development and sponsorship of women's ice hockey at all NCAA levels throughout the United States.

The first AWCHA undertaking was the 1998 National Championship for women's college hockey, held March 20-21, 1998, at Harvard University and Boston's FleetCenter. New Hampshire, regular season champions of the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC), defeated Brown University, ECAC tournament champions, in that historic first final. This year, Harvard captured the second National Championship by defeating Brown University and defending champion New Hampshire, the latter in a classic overtime final. This year's event was held at the University of Minnesota's Mariucci Arena.

The All-American ballot process was conducted by the American Hockey Coaches Association (AHCA), which also oversees the voting for men's All-American intercollegiate hockey teams.