A brief history of New England’s most iconic games from the college level to the professional level.
New England is not only well-known for its professional sports teams, but also for the college teams that have had their own achievements. Today, we will look back at some of the most prominent games for women in New England.
In 1893, Smith College hosted the first women’s collegiate basketball game. The game was held in Northampton, Massachusetts. The game was between the freshman and sophomore classes of Smith College. This game was one of the first organized competitive sports for women in college. This led to excitement and growth in women’s sports.
The oldest NCAA Division III conference is the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC). It was created in 1971.
The iconic games of basketball did not stop in 1893. In the 2018-19 season, the Westfield State Owls won their fourth MASCAC championship in a row. No other basketball team in the MASCAC has achieved this feat.
The basketball team for the Owls is not the only women’s sports team to win the MASCAC championship four years in a row. In the 2025-2026 season, the Owls women’s cross country team won its fifth MASCAC championship in a row. A feat that no other team has accomplished in the MASCAC.
The Beanpot is an annual men’s and women’s ice hockey tournament held in TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. The first-ever women’s Beanpot was in 1979, 27 years after the men’s tournament started. It was originally held at Northeastern. Now, with growth in popularity, the women’s tournament was held at TD Garden for the first time in 2024.
The growth in the Beanpot is one of many reasons that Boston now has its very own professional women’s ice hockey team, the Boston Fleet. The first home game for the Fleet was in January 2024. Not only is it the first professional women’s hockey team in Boston, but it is also one of the first six teams in the entire professional women’s ice hockey league.
There are many more iconic games to come as Boston now has a women’s rugby team, the Boston Banshees, a women’s soccer team debuting in Spring 2026, the Boston Legacy FC, and a brand new team a part of the Women’s Professional Baseball League.