After beginning the season with two losses against nationally ranked Tufts and William Smith, the women’s lacrosse team was eager to get back on track during spring break and live up to their №17 national ranking. The Continentals won their first home game against the №14 Colby College Mules, the third-straight nationally ranked opponent on the first day of break. Although Hamilton began the game with a two point deficit and was down four points with 13:38 remaining in the first half, the Continentals proved victorious, as they endured the windy snowdrifts characteristic of an early upstate New York Spring. Nicole Lyons ’18 and Skyler Simson ’20 added one goal apiece while Darby Philbrick ’18 and Kara Pooley ’19 added two to tie Hamilton 5–5 going into the half. The Continentals began the second half eager to eclipse Colby’s efforts with Philbrick and Lyons adding two goals while Pooley and Charlotte Wynn ’20 each added one goal. Hannah Burrall ’19 led Hamilton’s defense with 12 saves while Emma Knoll ’20, Courtney Pierre ’21, Hannah Lease ’18 and Sarah Kaiser ’21 added three ground balls.
Getting away from the quasi-spring weather in Clinton, the women traveled to southern Florida for good training, tough competition and some healthy doses of Vitamin D. The women put up a hard fight against the №21 SUNY Geneseo as Pooley grabbed nine draw controls giving Hamilton a 17–11 advantage on the draw. Lyons also had a stellar performance with a career high four points on two goals and two assists. Burrall, currently leading the NESCAC with nearly 12 total stops per game, was crucial to Hamilton’s success with 10 saves. Despite the Continentals’ enthusiasm and skill, the women ended with a four point deficit, taking their third loss of the season.
Two days later, the women played another difficult game against NESCAC rival and the №20. Bowdoin College Polar Bears. Although Bowdoin gained a seven point cushion early in the game, the Continentals’ offense played outstandingly. Lyons and Jackie Cuddy ’18 added two goals apiece, while Pooley, Philbrick, and Pierre each added one. Honor Gabriel ’21 scored her first collegiate goal along with one assist and ground ball. TT Fletcher ’20 collected a career-high three ground balls and three caused turnovers. Although the Polar Bears kept their lead and cushioned it with three additional goals in the final five minutes, the Continentals ended the game with a 12–6 edge in ground balls and 30–26 shot advantage, a positive takeaway for them as they would soon continue their challenging season back home.
After five straight games against nationally ranked competitors, the women returned home to play four games against tough opponents and win three of them. The grabbed a convincing win against SUNY Oneonta, as they scored the first three goals and ran off ten straight goals in a 26-minute time frame. Pooley and Simson each added three goals, Pierre, Philbrick and Julia Rowland ’21 each tallied two goals, and Tatiana Bradley ’19, Lyons, Cuddy, and Gabriel finished with a goal. In goal, Eleni Neyland ’18 stopped a career-high seven shots.
Coming off of an overwhelming win, the Continentals were soon faced with their toughest competitor of the season so far, Amherst College. Amherst was ahead by ten early in the game and held the lead, as Hamilton only added two goals from Lyons and Wynn, both late in the second half.
After the tough loss against Amherst, the Continentals added two more wins to their tally, with convincing victories against Skidmore and №24 Bates College. At Skidmore, Hamilton maintained a 4–3 edge going into the first half but went on to completely control the second half with Cuddy notching her fourth goal of the season and 38th of her Hamilton career. Successive goals by Bradley, Pierre, Philbrick and Tessa Ryan ’21 gave Hamilton a six-point cushion with 17:13 remaining.
At Bates, the Continentals grabbed their second NESCAC victory as Hamilton’s offense had a banner day led by Lyons who scåored three goals and assisted on three others. Philbrick increased her season tally to 14 goals with Lyons close behind with 13. With 1:09 remaining in the first half, Hamilton had an 8–6 edge and only gave up four more goals in the second half.
Maya Cote ’19 shared some of her thoughts about some of the challenges and successes for the team so far. “Obviously we had a difficult start to the season, but we have learned a lot from all of those really tough losses. We have come together as a team and had a lot of conversations about our culture, our personal and team goals, and what we can do to move forward in the face of this adversity,” she said.
Cote noted that, “Open communication, accountability, and work on individual skills are goals we have set for ourselves for the rest of the season. We want to make sure that we have all our fundamental skills cleaned up and that we are pushing each other and supporting each other to be the best we can be every single day in practice.” Hamilton is focused and determined to finsish the season strong. “There has been a distinct shift in our mindset over the past few weeks as our team has started to put in extra time, extra focus, and increased intensity into everything we do. We have a lot of season ahead of us and together we plan on continuing our newfound momentum,” Cote adds.
The women still have six regular season games left, five of which are against NESCAC rivals. The Continentals resume play against №8 Trinity College on Saturday, April 7th at 12 p.m. at Hamilton’s Steuben Field.
