Pandelis Margaronis ’25, Sebastian Ghosh ’25 and Luke Peplowski ’25 were selected to all-NESCAC teams as sophomores for men’s soccer. Photo by Josh McKee.
Men’s soccer
The team boasted three players for the all-NESCAC squad, with Pandelis Margaronis ’25 qualifying for the first team and Luke Peplowski ’25 and Sebastian Ghosh ’25 landing spots on the second team. Margaronis and Peplowski impressed offensively all season, starting in every match and firing a combined eight goals. Ghosh was a huge defensive asset, starting the first ten games of the season — the team went 8–0–2 in that stretch — before picking up a season-ending injury. Though the Continentals’ record dovetailed somewhat thereafter in the form of three losses and three ties, their overall 8–4–4 record was impressive. Their season came to an end in the conference championship quarterfinals.
Women’s soccer
Caroline Dawson ’23 made the second team for the all-NESCAC squad after racking up seven assists during the season, good for second in the conference. The honor is a fine crown for her collegiate career; Dawson scored 11 goals and racked up 18 assists over three seasons, the 2020 season a blank due to COVID. Dawson competed in all 15 games this season, starting 12, and playing a big role in the team’s seven wins. Their overall record was 7–4–4.
Field Hockey
Maura Holden ’23 qualified for the second all-NESCAC team. She started in 15 of 16 games, scoring three goals and one assist along the way. Like Dawson, this is the end of her college career — she has played in 47 games, scoring a total of 16 goals.
Football
Football lost 48–34 to the 7–1 Middlebury Panthers to fall to 2–6 on the season. A bright spot for the Continentals was the performance of Matt Banbury ’23 who threw 3 touchdowns and ran for two more, accounting for five total scores. Middlebury jumped out in front of Hamilton, taking a 21–0 lead less than four minutes into the second quarter on a 17-yard pass play.
Hamilton’s offense ignited after that, starting with a 75-yard drive including a 14-yard pass to Colin Kelter ’26 on fourth down-and-five to keep the drive alive. The impressive march was capped by a one-yard plunge by Banbury with 7:26 to go in the second quarter. After allowing a touchdown before the half, Hamilton scored on another 75-yard drive to start the second half which was also characterized by a fourth down conversion by Kelter.
This time it was a 12-yard pass to Kelter on fourth-and one from the Panthers 22-yardline. Banbury scored his second rushing touchdown of the game, again on a one-yard plunge, to make the score 28–14. Later in the third quarter, Hamilton went on another touchdown march which included a massive 32-yard pass from Banbury to Lucas Perez-Segnini ’25. The drive was capped off on a 9-yard pass to Joseph Campanella ’26 to make the score 35–21 with 1:42 left in the quarter.
Middlebury iced their victory by scoring two touchdowns in the span of four seconds. To do this, the Panthers scored a passing touchdown, recovered a muffed kickoff and scored another passing touchdown the next play for a quick 14-point flurry. Down 48–21, Hamilton kept fighting responding with two fourth quarter touchdowns of their own.
On their first touchdown drive of the quarter, Joe Cairns ’25 kept the chains moving on fourth-and-four at midfield with a 5-yard run. Hamilton then pushed the ball to the Middlebury seven yardline where Banbury found Erza Lombardi ’24 for a score with 9:42 to go in the game. Later on,
Hamilton went on another march, this time categorized by a tough catch by Mark Howrigan ’23 who pulled the ball in amidst traffic for a 16-yard gain on fourth-and-14 from the Panthers 31-yardline. A few plays later, Perez-Sangnini snagged a pass from Banbury for a 10-yard score with 2:43 left. The score was Banbury’s third passing touchdown and fifth total touchdown of the game.