by Jo Dine ’22, Contributing Writer
On Saturday, Feb. 23, the #3 seeded Hamilton women’s hockey team (16–7–2 overall, 9–5–2 NESCAC) defeated the #6 seeded Colby College Mules (12–10–3 overall, 8–8 NESCAC) by a score of 3–1 in the NESCAC Championship Quarterfinal match at Russell Sage Rink.
The win will send the Continentals to the NESCAC Semifinals, where they will match up with the #2 Middlebury College (15–7–3 overall, 9–5–2 NESCAC) on the Williams College campus. The last time the women’s hockey team made it to the conference semifinals was in 2007; that season, Hamilton also beat Colby in the quarterfinals. The 2007 team then lost to Middlebury in the semi-final match.
Earlier this season, Hamilton was defeated by Middlebury 4–1 and then 3–2 on Jan. 25 and 26, respectively. At the time, Middlebury was ranked #8 in the nation. The Panthers are currently ranked first in the NESCAC in goals allowed with only 33 in total this season while the Continentals are ranked fourth with 39.
The quarterfinal match against Colby began with a score-free first period. Colby attempted 15 shots to Hamilton’s 5. There were 13 faceoffs in the first 20 minutes, 8 of which were won by Colby players.
The Continentals’ first goal came 12:55 into the second period, following a faceoff win by Missy Segall ’21. Mya Berretta ’22 passed the puck from the corner near Colby’s goal to Maggie Seidenberg ’22, who scored her first career goal from the neutral zone. It also marked Berretta’s sixth assist and 14th point of her first season.
Four minutes later, with 17:02 on the clock, Alayna Trice ’20 and Maddie Beitler ’21 successfully assisted Hamilton’s second goal, which was scored by Jess Haviland ’21. Haviland powered through the defense, getting around three Colby players to score her third goal and ninth point this year.
At 13:22 in the third period, the Mules gained the opportunity for a power play after a minor Hamilton penalty gave them a 5–4 advantage of players on the ice. Colby quickly made successive shot attempts, all either wide of the net or saved by Hamilton goalie Gab Venne ’22. After the Mules won a faceoff, however, Colby first year McKinley Karpa was finally able to get the puck past Venne, hitting it into the upper left corner of Hamilton’s net.
Hamilton’s final point was scored in the last minute of the game. Colby players were packed on offense near Hamilton’s goal. They were unprepared for Nancy Loh ’22 to steal the puck away and pass it to Segall, who capitalized on the Mules’ empty net to score her fifth goal of the season.
Colby ended up attempting a total of 41 shots on goal (compared to 19 by Hamilton). Venne made a career-high 40 saves over the total 60 minutes of game play. She has been the main goalie for Hamilton in their final six regular season matches, which include five wins against Amherst College, Bowdoin College, and Connecticut College (each team was played twice). Venne made 163 of her season total 233 saves during these games. She currently has the highest save percentage in the NESCAC at .955.
Another impressive performance came from fellow first-year Loh, who attempted a team-high five shots and assisted the Continentals’ third goal. Loh is the team’s leading scorer with 25 points, 12 of them in conference games. She leads all NESCAC first-years in both point scoring and assist scoring (now with 15 total assists on the season.) Loh has since been recognized as the conference Rookie of the Year, the third woman in program history to do so.
Taegan Blackwell ’19 was also acknowledged by the NESCAC for her play. She was named as one of seven players to the second all-conference team, the only Hamilton player to achieve that honor this year. Blackwell has ten points (1 goal, 9 assists) as a defenseman. In her 93 career games at the collegiate level, she has 27 points.
This season has been memorable for the Continentals; their 16 wins are a program record. This is their first semifinal appearance since 2007, and they are riding a 4-game win streak into the game. The team has only lost one game out of their last seven.
The Continentals now look to keep up the momentum of their quarterfinal win and avenge their two losses to Middlebury as they travel to Williamstown, M.A. this coming weekend. They will go up against the Panthers on Saturday, March 2 at 4 PM to fight for a spot in the NESCAC Championship game. The final game will be on Sunday, March 3. The games will be live streamed on the NESCAC and Hamilton websites.
