Sports
Field hockey sweeps family weekend homestand to reach NESCAC playoffs
By Sterling Xie ’16
October 29, 2015
Over the past two seasons, Hamilton College’s field hockey program has undergone one of the most drastic turnarounds of any varsity sports team on campus. After winning just a single NESCAC game during the 2012 season and going winless in conference games in 2013, the Continentals have now qualified for the postseason two years in a row. Hamilton actually earned the final playoff spot on a coin flip last year, but this season, the Continentals made the eight-team field with a place to spare, finishing seventh with a record of 9-6 overall and 4-6 in the NESCAC.
Entering Family Weekend on Oct. 24-25, the field hockey squad had dropped four of its previous five games, with all four losses coming against conference competition. The two-week skid dropped the Continentals from a comfortable playoff position to the periphery of the postseason, as Hamilton needed a win against Colby to ensure their season would continue. Fortunately, the team was able to deliver under pressure, sweeping the weekend with a 5-2 defeat of the Mules and a 4-1 win over Utica College the following day.
Casey Brown ‘16, who ranks second on the team with 10 goals and 23 total points, suggested there was extra motivation surrounding the team while it still controlled its own playoff fate. “There was a lot of fire going into the Colby game due to our earlier loss to Williams that week,” she explains. “We know we excel if we all mentally show up. As a team we really wanted to beat Colby, so there was never a doubt in my mind we would not rise to the occasion. Our Colby game gave us a lot of confidence playing Utica; I don’t think losing that game entered a single person’s mind. It was our senior game so a win was necessary."
Leading scorer Eva Rosencrans ‘17 posted her 10th career multi-goal game against Colby, scoring with 4:14 left in the first half to break a 1-1 tie that would put Hamilton ahead for good. Additionally, Merisa Dion ‘17 tallied three goals over the weekend, including the opening goal against Colby, which occurred when Brown’s shot ricocheted off the goal post and set Dion up in front of the net.
Rosencrans’ scoring prowess has been the driving force behind Hamilton’s turnaround the past two years, but as this year’s roster composition illustrates, she is hardly the sole reason for the Continentals’ turnaround. Brown and midfielder Aubrey Coon ‘16 are the team’s only seniors, with the team largely depending on underclassmen such as Rosencrans, Dion, Margaret Revera ‘18 and Emma Anderson ‘17.
“Our team was young but it’s been an awesome season because we’ve really flowed together and our chemistry works so well,” says Dion, who has assumed a much larger role in 2015 and ranks third on the team with seven goals and 17 points. “I found that my leadership role has not been as intense since everyone, including underclassmen, have been stepping up...Both Aubrey and Casey have been such supportive, leading forces, but I feel that this year we’ve been making decisions collectively, instead of one person making decisions for the whole team. It’s been great to work with and get better with a whole group of teammates working towards the same goal.”
Brown echoed a similar sentiment, suggesting that everyone has begun to pull in the same direction over the past two years, supplying a cohesiveness that did not necessarily exist during the 2012 and 2013 seasons. “My first year, field hockey was a job for a lot of the upperclassmen,” she asserted. “They wanted to win but did not have the competitive drive or desire to do what it takes. After the first goal in a lot of our games we would give up. This year we have a lot of true field hockey players and competitors. Our team consistently showed up early to practice because we were excited to play, get better, and win…We are very passionate about it. Even for the juniors, field hockey is in their blood. In my mind, I can see most of my teammates playing adult field hockey or even coaching after college because we value the sport so much.”
The Continentals will travel to Williams College to play the number two seed Ephs on Oct. 31. Hamilton lost 7-0 during their regular season meeting at Williamstown, but head coach Gillian McDonald believes the team is an entirely different squad from the one that lost badly in September. “Middlebury is a great team. Our game with them was right at the beginning of the season. We have made a lot of adjustments since then and have improved. We have a week to prepare for them and we are going to do our best to put ourselves in a position to beat them.”
Regardless of that game’s outcome, the field hockey program has now made tangible progress in each of the past two seasons. With a bevy of starters set to return for the 2016 campaign, this season might serve as an appetizer for a larger step forward next fall.