Hamilton men’s and women’s varsity sports teams made significant strides in the 2017–2018 academic year. Seventeen of twenty-nine teams competed in NESCAC Championship play, with women’s soccer, men’s soccer and men’s basketball making it to the semi-final round of their tournaments. Women’s soccer and men’s basketball made it to NCAA tournament play. Men’s cross country performed in the top ten of the NCAA Atlantic Region Championships while the women had two runners compete in the NCAA Division III Championship. Many other teams had exciting wins on the field that cannot be quantified by a tournament run. In honor of these outstanding performances, lets recap the top ten Hamilton sports moments of the year.

10.

Men’s hockey claims the tenth spot for their home-and-home performance against Skidmore College back in December. The Continentals gave up only one goal in the first game as Evan Buitenhuis ’18 turned away 21 shots in a 5–1 win. Seniors Tyler Bruneteau ’18, Brandon Willett ’18, and Neil Conway ’18 each put home one goal for the Continentals, while Nick Ursitti ’20 pocketed two. In the second game of the series, Anthony Tirabassi ’20 delivered a shutout, making 31 saves at the historic Clinton Arena. T.J. Daigler ’18 scored two, while Ursitti and Rory Gagnon ’19 scored one a piece.

9.

Coming in at number 9, women’s hockey’s 2–1 season finale win against Connecticut College. After tying in a scoreless tilt the day before, the women took a 2–0 lead in the third period off goals from Maddie Beitler ’21 and Andrea Rockey ’19. Sam Walther ’18 maintained the lead, making 40 saves in the game, to earn the team the fourth seed in the NESCAC Championship tournament and home-ice advantage for the quarterfinals.

8.

Earlier this season, the softball team defeated host Williams College 4–2. At the time, Williams was ranked 14th nationally, and they consistently dominated NESCAC and NCAA play, earning softball the eighth sports moment of the year. A combination of strong pitching from Claire O’Brien ’21 and Zoe Singer ’18, as well as consecutive hits from the middle of the line-up gave the Continentals the edge over Williams in the first game of the three game series back in March.

7.

The men’s and women’s cross-country teams represented the Buff and Blue with strong performances all season long. The men’s team had two first-place team finishes on the season, including impressive times from Peter DeWeirdt ’18 and Lucas Wright ’21. They finished 10th out of 42 teams in the NCAA Atlantic Region Championships in November. Hanna Jerome ’18 and Grace Heller ’19 paced the women throughout the season, including 12th and 15th place finishes respectively, out of the 285 runners in the NCAA Atlantic Region Championships. Both runners competed in the NCAA DIII Championships.

6.

Coming in sixth place is football’s convincing 35–14 win over Bates in their season finale at Steuben Field. Quarterback Kenny Gray ’20 threw for 262 yards against an exhausted Bates Bobcats defense. The crowd erupted at the start of the second half as Sam Robinson ’20 returned the opening kickoff 87 yards for a touchdown and the Continentals claimed the lead for good. Joe Schmidt ’20 added his name to the record books, tying the school single-season record with 55 receptions. The Continentals fiery offense and defense on the brisk November day did not give the Bobcats a chance, earning them the sixth spot in the rundown.

5.

While not technically a “moment,” the men’s and women’s rowing teams are having quite the year of performances that cannot go unacknowledged. The men have been top finishers all year long, claiming five first-place finishes. They also finished 8th out of 38 teams at the Head of the Schuylkill in Philadelphia, PA in October. The women are performing equally well, with six first place finishes and a 2nd-place finish of 43 teams at the Head of the Schuylkill. Both teams still have three races left, including the New York, National, and NESCAC Championships. It is clear by their performances this year that we should expect only the best, earning them the fifth spot in the Hamilton sports moments of the year.

4.

Next up, women’s soccer defeated Wesleyan in overtime 1–0. In the 99th minute of the game, Katie McKillop ’19 rocketed a perfectly positioned shot from the top of the 18-yard box that hit the crossbar and bounced straight down and across the goal line as the crowd erupted. McKillop’s game winner was the first exicting moment in 99 grueling minutes of soccer.

3.

The men’s and women’s Track and Field NESCAC Championship, which happened to have occurred this past weekend, takes number three on the list as two Hamilton athletes took home first place in their events and earned all-NESCAC honors for their performances. Eli Saucier ’18 won the 200-meter dash for the second year in a row with a time of 21.65 seconds. Saucier also claimed second in the 100-meter dash, beating the program record he previously set with a time of 10.64. Cat Berry ’19 claimed the conference title for the women in the 200-meter dash with a time of 24.87 seconds.

2.

After losing to the Mammoths in the NESCAC Championship Finals in 2017, there was no sweeter victory than that of the men’s soccer team over number 10 nationally ranked Amherst in the NESCAC Championship Quarterfinal this fall. The Continentals were the seventh seed in the tournament, meaning they beat Amherst on their home field to advance to the semifinals. Playing solid all around, the men received three goals from Aiden Wood ’20, and one from Matt Kastilahn ’18 in the victory. The game-winning goal came from Wood in the 85th minute, just 8 minutes after Amherst had scored to tie it up. The outstanding performance from Wood and the tournament win gives the men the runner-up spot in the rundown.

1.

There was no question that men’s basketball had to have the top spot, but which performance was worthy of it? Obviously, they had an outstanding season, which should not and will not go ignored, but that made choosing a clear moment difficult. Although the games in their NCAA tournament run were compelling choices, the double-digit win over Middlebury College comes in as our top Hamilton sports moment of 2017–2018.

The Continentals took down the Panthers 102–83 on a Friday night in front of their home crowd. The Middlebury Panthers were ranked 5th at the time, while the Continentals were a good ten spots behind them at 15th. The win brought the team into a tie for first place in the NESCAC. Kena Gilmour ’20 had a career night, putting up 29 points while Tim Doyle ’19 added 19. Normally it is the closeness of the score that makes the game exciting, but this one got better with every point Hamilton scored. How badly could they beat them? How many points could they put up? All those factors combined made this win particularly sweet, warranting it the top spot in the run-down.