This weekend, three of Hamilton’s varsity teams competed in the NESCAC finals: volleyball, men’s soccer, and women’s soccer. Volleyball advanced to the quarter finals, where they were defeated by Amherst 3–1; Men’s soccer advanced to the semifinals, where they were defeated by Tufts 4–0; and women’s soccer advanced to the semifinals, where they were defeated by Tufts 3–2. Despite these unfortunate losses, all three teams led successful seasons and accomplished great things. Defeat is often the best teacher, and from their performances this season our teams will undoubtedly return next year to fight even further into the postseason.

Women’s volleyball took on Amherst College in the NESCAC quarterfinals at Tufts University on Friday, Nov. 5. The Continentals started off strong in the first set, winning 26–24, with three early aces by Dorothy Poucher ’21. The set was suspensefully close through its entirety with Hamilton grabbing the win at the end. However, Amherst returned with incredible tenacity and resolve, shutting down Hamilton in the next three sets with final scores of 25–22, 25–11, and 25–8. Nonetheless, the Continentals never lost their drive, fighting to the end even as Amherst pushed harder and harder. Hamilton was led by strong performances from Poucher, who served 5 aces and hit ten kills, Erin Donahue ’18, who had 9 kills, and Courtney Brown ’18, who had 8. On the defensive front, Christine Zizzi ’18 racked up 26 digs and Meghan Wilkinson ’19 contributed 13, Margaret O’Brien ’18 kept Amherst’s powerful offense at bay with 6 blocks at the net. Despite their disheartening loss, the Continentals led a great season, going 14–9 overall. We can expect to see the women return next year stronger than ever, even with the loss of members of the class of 2018 Donahue, Brown, Zizzi, O’Brien, and Kyndal Burdin.

Men’s soccer perhaps had to face the greatest challenge of all on Saturday: Tufts University’s number 4 nationally ranked team on their home field. Tufts dominated the pitch for most of the game, with powerhouse Kevin Halladay of Tufts University scoring two goals, one in each half, followed by two more goals, which remained unanswered from Hamilton, securing the final score of 4–0. Nonetheless, the Continentals held their own, keeping Tufts’ incredible offense at bay and working in attacks of their own. Eli Morris ’18 headed the ball into the crossbar on a free kick from Matt Kastilahn ’18, dishearteningly close to scoring, and Luke Eckels ’20 headed another ball just over the goal late in the game off of a corner kick from Jeff Plump ’20.

It was a difficult match for Hamilton to hold their heads high in, but they did so with unparalleled sportsmanship, incurring only four fouls, whereas Tufts amassed a total of fifteen. Tufts presented a nearly impossible challenge for most soccer teams to overcome, and Hamilton fought them toe to toe. The Continentals led a 8–7–2 season overall, and will be back for more next fall, despite the losses of members of the Class of 2018, including Pete Calleri, Jack Temko, Eli Lichtman, Killian Clancy, Joe Harrington, Quinn O’Malley, Matt Cerveny, Morris, and Kastilahn.

Women’s soccer faced Tufts in the NESCAC semifinals at Williams College on Saturday, and the match was intensely close for all ninety minutes. In their typical fashion, the Continentals started off with a ferocity that hardly gave Tufts time to react; Katie Kreider ’18 finished off a cross from Katja Dunlap ’18 just 40 seconds into the first half. However, Tufts soon planted their feet and came back to match Hamilton’s early advance, scoring a goal in the 21st minute, only for Dunlap to redirect a corner kick from Jessie Murray ’19 into the back of Tufts’ net. The game played out in this back and forth fashion for the remainder of the first half. The second half began with a similar intensity, but Tufts was able to retie the game in the in the 64th minute, then take the lead in the 70th. Despite the Continentals’ best efforts in the nail-biting remainder of the match, Tufts secured the victory 3–2. The game was so close that Hamilton and Tufts had the same number of shots(ten) and corner kicks(two). In such a tight game, the victor depends more on luck than anything, and unfortunately, luck sided with Tufts on Saturday.

But this is far from the end for the team — on Monday, Nov. 6, women’s soccer received an at-large bid to the NCAA Division III Championship. The Continentals will take on Misericordia University on Saturday, Nov. 11 at 1:30 at SUNY Geneseo. The Misericordia Cougars will present a monumental challenge, as they won the Middle Atlantic Conference championship last Saturday, Nov. 4 after leading a tremendous season, and are the favorite in Saturday’s match. Though the Continentals are the underdogs, from the way the women have faced and overcome opponent after opponent this season, it is more than likely we could see an upset this Saturday.