Police in North Dakota say a Canadian softball player and two of her American teammates found dead in a pond earlier this month died of drowning.

The bodies of 21-year-old Ashley Neufeld of Brandon, Man.; Kyrstin Gemar of San Diego, Calif; and 20-year-old Afton Williamson of Lake Elsinore, Calif., were found inside a Jeep Cherokee northwest of Dickinson, N.D., on Nov. 3.

Neufeld's pet Lhasa Apso dog was also found dead inside the vehicle.

A Thursday morning news release from Dickinson police Lt. Rod Banyai said that drowning was the confirmed cause of death for the three Dickinson State University students and that "there were no other contributing factors in their deaths."

Banyai confirmed to CTV.ca by e-mail that toxicology reports for all three women were negative, and that drugs and alcohol were not a factor in their deaths.

The women were last heard from on the evening of Nov. 1, when they used a cellphone to call a friend to say they were in trouble and near water.

Police traced their cellphone signals and found their bodies inside the vehicle -- registered to Gemar -- two days after they first went missing.

The jeep was resting on its wheels in about three metres of water. The doors and windows were closed.

All three women played on the softball team for Dickinson State University, a small school in a city that is located about 500 kilometres west of Fargo, N.D.