Sports
Women’s hockey in position to host first-round NESCAC matchup
By Jane Bary ’19
February 4, 2016
Tags sports
A year removed from a losing record, the Hamilton women’s hockey team has turned things around and is in the midst of a strong 2015-16 season. The Continentals are now one of the top-four teams in the NESCAC and appear poised for a strong showing in the playoffs with the possibility of home ice advantage in the first round.
Led by a host of seniors, such as Alycia Racicot ’16, Hannah Bartlett ’16 and Ianthe Lekometros ’16, the women’s squad boasts a winning record of 10-6-2 and has momentum leading up to this weekend’s two competitions against Bowdoin. Hamilton went undefeated in its matchups against Bowdoin last season, winning one game and tying the other. Hamilton then heads to Amherst, the second-ranked team in the conference, and wraps up the regular season at home with two winnable games against Connecticut College.
The Continentals currently stand at fourth place in the conference, with a 4-4-2 conference record. With six conference games remaining, they have already equaled last year’s win total.
The Continentals recorded their sixth shutout this season in a 3-0 win against SUNY-Cortland on Monday, Feb. 1. Racicot, Bartlett, and Megan Ahern ’17 all scored in the game, and goalie Sam Walther ’18 continued her stellar season in the net with 19 saves. With her performance Monday, Walther maintains her status as one of the top goalies in the country. She ranks ninth in Goals Against Average, and 11th according to her save percentage.
Hamilton had more trouble last weekend against a hard-nosed defensive Middlebury team. In a pair of home games, the Continentals fell 1-0 and 2-0. Middlebury is the top team in the conference and ranks in the top 10 nationally.
Bartlett has received national attention for her goal-scoring abilities. She is in a tie for 12th in the country in terms of goals per game, with a team-high 14 in 18 games. Newcomer Olivia Hawes ’19 has chipped in five goals this season, and leads the team in assists, with nine. Ahern and Sara Taffe ’17 have also been big contributors on offense.
With an impressive showing in the last six games of the season, Hamilton women’s hockey team is in a great position to not only make the play offs, but also secure a postseason home game. “We’ve put ourselves in a great position to do so, and need to take care of business the last three weekends to make it happen,” said Racicot.
The team got off to a good start this season, splitting its opening matchups with Williams in November. Last month against Wesleyan, the team won a pair of conference matchups against the same opponent for the first time since the current crop of seniors were first-years, a highlight for Racicot and the other senior Continentals.
The first-year players bring new enthusiasm to the squad, and hope to start their college careers off with a NESCAC title. “My goals for the rest of the season are obviously winning playoffs, but also to play every game and shift like it could be our last,” said Emily Williams ’19, a forward.
The women’s squad has not tallied a winning season since the 2012-13 campaign, and has not boasted a winning NESCAC conference record in more than a decade. This year’s team plans to change that, and is well positioned to do so.