Many Hamilton teams competed in NESCAC playoff games this weekend, each vying for the top spot in a competitive athletic conference. Below are the results from the teams that competed:
Men’s soccer
Men’s soccer played in the NESCAC Quarterfinals on Saturday, losing 2–0 to Middlebury. Hamilton was the fifth seed in the tournament while Middlebury was the fourth. Middlebury opened the scoring 10 minutes and 42 minutes into the game on an assisted goal. They scored again with 4:20 left in the game on another assisted goal after intercepting a Hamilton throw-in. Middlebury outshot Hamilton 16–14 and had a 6–4 advantage on corner kicks. Hamilton switched goalies midway through the second half with Kai Hasslein ’24 coming on in relief of Ben Ziegler ’24. Zeigler tallied four saves before being subbed off. Hamilton finished the season at 8–4–4 overall and 4–2–4 in the conference, good enough for 5th place in the NESCAC and 23rd in the country in D3soccer.com’s Top 25 poll.
Cross Country
Hamilton hosted the NESCAC Cross Country championships on a sunny Saturday afternoon, where the men’s team placed 10th out of 11 teams. George Brady ’23 led the Continentals, finishing ninth out of 152 finishers, completing the eight-kilometer course in a blazing 24:28.9. That impressive time beat his previous career best by nearly 50 seconds. Brady’s performance earned him a spot on the All-NESCAC second team. Hamilton’s second finisher was James Gallagher ’24 who ran a personal best of 25:52.8, good for 62nd place. Behind Gallagher was Joseph Simone ’26, finishing 66th with a time of 25:56.9. Bram Mansbach ’24 finished next for Hamilton, earning 79th place with a time of 26:14.9, while Andrew Harrell ’23 rounded out Hamilton’s top 5 with a time of 26:26.1, good enough for 85th place.
Women’s cross country fared better than the men, finishing 5th out of the same 11 team field. Kylie Oblak ’24 was the first Hamilton runner to finish, coming in 21st out of 144 finishers and completing the six-kilometer course in a personal-best time of 22:35.7. Clara Fu ’26 came in next for the Continentals, finishing 23rd with a season-best time of 22:40.4. Taylor Harris ’26 finished after Fu with another season-best time of 22:48, placing 29th in the race. Naimi Andrew ’25 was the fourth Hamilton runner to finish in under 23 minutes with a time of 22:59.9, which got her 39th place. Maddie Foss ’25 completed Hamilton’s top five in 69th place with a time of 23:49.2. All of the teams who finished ahead of the Continentals are ranked nationally. Both women’s and men’s cross country return to the course on Saturday, Nov. 12th in the NCAA Division III the Niagara Regional Championships at Genesee Valley Park in Rochester NY.
Field Hockey
Field hockey fell 5–1 to Middlebury in the quarterfinals of the NESCAC championship tournament on Oct. 29. Hamilton put up a fight, but the 15–1 Middlebury Panthers kept scoring to eliminate the Continentals. Hannah Dillon ’24 scored the Continentals’ lone goal with about 1:30 left in the third period which was assisted by both Kiera Wax ’23 and Camille Donaghey ’23. After Dillon’s goal, the score of the game was 2–1 in favor of Middlebury but the Panthers poured on three more goals in the remainder of the game to make the deficit too much to manage. Hamilton was the eighth seed in the tournament, taking on the field’s top seed in Middlebury, who are also ranked second nationally. Dillon’s goal was her fifth of the season and gave her a team-leading 16 points. Hamilton finished 8–8 and 4–6 in the conference to earn a spot in the NESCAC tournament. They also finished 17th nationally.