On Friday night, Hamilton Women’s Hockey defeated Williams 4-1 in front of a 400-person crowd at Russell Sage Rink, marking their fifth win in six games. Both teams came into the Winter Classic strong as Williams sought to utilize their momentum after sweeping Colby College the previous weekend and as Hamilton entered the game on a hot-streak.
The game started slow as both teams remained scoreless in the first period. However, Williams only managed five shots compared to Hamilton’s ten. After a back-and-forth stalemate, the Continentals tallied their first goal with 7:58 left in the second period. Hamilton’s Cuora Sullivan ’26 capitalized on a loose puck in Williams’ half of the rink, securing the puck around the back of the net where she continued to skate towards right below the left faceoff circle. She flicked a wrist shot that was then redirected in the air by Ava Romano ’27 into the top-right corner past the goaltender’s glove.
Late in the second period, Williams’ Charlotte Fetherson ’28 was penalized for hooking, which granted the Continentals a two-minute power play and a golden opportunity to extend their lead. Unfortunately, Hamilton was unable to find the net. Despite being outshot by several attempts, the Continentals took their single-goal lead into the third period, thanks in part to a strong preformance by goalie Teagan Brown ’27.
Unlike the previous two periods, Hamilton started the final period aggressively, ripping several shots in the first few minutes. Finally, all of those chances paid off as just seven minutes into the third period, Lydia Bullock ’26 gathered a rebound and shot from near the right post, which was deflected off the goalie. Lilly Truchon ’26 poked the loose puck over the line to double the Continentals’ lead, 2-0.
As time was running out, Williams pulled their goalie with five minutes left, hoping to generate an offensive attack to spark an end-of-game comeback. Nonetheless, this strategy was not as effective as Williams expected, allowing Lilly Truchon ’26 to cash in an empty net goal, her second goal of the day. This was Truchon’s first multi-goal game of the season and she now leads the team with five goals on the season.
Twenty seconds later, Williams emptied the net again immediately after the faceoff. This paved the way for Bri Rockwood ’28 to net another empty-net goal, assisted by Grace Puskar ’27, expanding the lead to four.
The Ephs continued without a goalie and eventually denied the shutout, as Lucy Bond ’26 scored with 2:25 to go. With the little remaining time left, Williams could not pose any other threat for the remainder of the game, and the Continentals were victorious, winning 4-1.
Brown had a stellar performance in net during the third period, saving 13 shots of her 27 total saves. Brown now has a .947 save percentage in 14 starts. This win marks the Continentals’ fifth consecutive win against Williams.
However, this streak came to an end the following day. On Saturday, the teams faced off once again on Hamilton’s senior night, where the Continentals fell just short of a three-goal comeback, losing 2-3. Nonetheless, after a slow start to the season, Hamilton looks to gain momentum at the end of the season after playing some of their best hockey.
The Continentals’ final two weeks are crucial as they travel to a 14-3-0 Bowdoin—who are third in the NESCAC standings—this weekend for two games and go on the road the following weekend for a doubleheader against a 14-3-1 Amherst team, who sit atop the NESCAC standings. These games will be an excellent benchmark for the Continentals, who are looking to make a deep run in the NESCAC tournament in March.
