Photo by Dan Tu ’20
Soccer is a beautiful game but a fickle sport; the Hamilton women’s soccer team can attest to this reality. The women sit at 3–3–1 overall and 1–3–1 in the NESCAC having lost games in which they demonstrably outperformed their opponent. In a sport that is so low-scoring, one slip up can more than negate 89 minutes of dominant play. The Continentals’ inability to score has made them especially susceptible to such fluke losses because, even when they control the ball and win the possession battle, they rarely give themselves a big lead and, thus, much breathing room.
A variety of contributors have chipped in to support Hamilton’s attack. Cat Gambino ’21 has scored two goals, while Amanda Becker ’18, Katja Dunlap ’18, Darby Philbrick ’18, Katie Tenefrancia ’19, and Sydney Kim ’21 have each contributed one. Philbrick and Jessie Murray ’19 have started all seven games at forward, Becker and Gambino have each started all but one and Katie Kreider ’18 has four starts. Dunlap has started every game in the midfield and Tenefrancia has five starts. Alex Fontana ’20 (3 starts), Maddie Dale ’20 (2 starts) and TT Fletcher ’20 (2 starts) have split time in the remaining midfield spot. Cassie Hayward ’19, Katie McKillop ’19, and Kristin Hughes ’20 have started every game on defense. Goalkeeper Emily Dumont ’18 has started each game as well and boasts a .089 goals against average along with a .806 save percentage. Dumont is third in the conference with 25 saves.
Hamilton’s NESCAC victory came against Trinity in a 1–0 overtime contest when Dunlap found the back of the net four minutes into the overtime period. The Continentals’ other victories came in non-conference play against SUNY Oneonta and Sage College. Hamilton won both games by a final score of 2–0. Hamilton fought Middlebury to a 1–1 overtime draw on Sept. 17, and its three losses have come at the hands of Williams, Connecticut College, and Bates. In the five games in which Hamilton has scored, the Continentals have scored first. Hamilton has been successful at scoring early in games but has struggled to come back when down; in the 130 minutes Hamilton has spent behind in games, they have failed to score. A struggle to convert shots on net has plagued the Continentals’ attack; they have outshot their opponents 101–74 and hit 57 shots on net versus 37 for their opponents but have only outscored their opponents 7–6. Hamilton has scored on only 6.9 percent of its shots despite placing 56.4 percent of their shots on goal.
Outside of the Williams game, a 3–1 loss, the Continentals’ defense has not yielded more than one goal in any game. “We’ve been able to hold a very solid defense, and I think that’s the backbone of our team this year,” remarked Dumont. Unfortunately, Hamilton has not scored more than two goals in any game and has scored one goal or fewer in every conference game. Overall, Hamilton has scored seven goals in seven games but just three goals in five conference games while yielding six goals, all of which were scored in the five conference games. Hamilton has the sixth-ranked defense and eighth-ranked offense in the 11 team NESCAC and currently sits in a three-way tie for fifth-place in the conference with four points. Hamilton has played five games, however, while Bowdoin and Middlebury, who also have four points, along with Amherst and Trinity, who have three, have only played four.
Last year, Hamilton squeaked into the playoffs as the eighth seed with seven points. Seven points is unlikely to secure a playoff birth for the Continentals this year. Regardless, Hamilton does not want to merely make the playoffs. Advancing in the playoffs as a seventh or eighth seed going on the road to play the first or second seed is a tough task; the past two seasons, each of which ended in eighth-seeded Hamilton losing to top-seeded Williams in the quarterfinals, serve testament to just how difficult of a task advancing is. Hosting a quarterfinal game is not out of the picture, but Hamilton would have to earn one of the top four seeds in the conference, which would require several wins in the final NESCAC stretch.
Hamilton is halfway through its NESCAC schedule and must improve its play in order to make a run in the playoffs. Dumont cited several particular areas the team is working on: “Our communication is up, but we need to keep it going. We are working on finding that fire inside our offense so we can start scoring some more goals.” She contends that Hamilton’s success this season has truly been the product of a team effort, noting that, “Returners have stepped up this year and the freshmen have been making big contributions to the team.” The entire team has bought in and that is promising for the Continentals and should enable them to finish the season on a successful note and build momentum into the playoffs. Dumont certainly thinks so, saying, “I’m very excited about what we can accomplish with the rest of our season!”
There is no easy win in NESCAC women’s soccer; however, fortunately for the Continentals, the hardest tests have passed, namely #4 Williams and #20 Connecticut College. Next on the docket for the Continentals is winless Wesleyan this Friday. The match-up with the Cardinals on Love Field might not be a must-win, but a win would give the Continentals a much-needed boost in the playoff push, while a loss would certainly be a setback. After Wesleyan, Hamilton plays its four final NESCAC matchups in the three subsequent weekends. Amherst and Tufts come to Clinton on Oct. 7, and 8 respectively, while the Continentals travel to Waterville, ME, to play Colby on Oct. 14, and finish their NESCAC campaign at home on Oct. 21 against Bates. Hamilton’s remaining non-conference games are at Hartwick on Oct. 3, at Utica on Oct. 11, and at home against SUNY Oswego in the season finale on Oct. 24. Hamilton has a great shot of winning any of the remaining games but must polish its attack and maintain its strong defense in order to do so.
