Athletics

Varsity Sports

Women's Squash

Overview

The Hamilton College women's squash team returns virtually everyone to the lineup for 2012-13, including Alexis Lee '13, who won 23 matches her first two years but was injured and didn't play all last season. Hilary Gray '15 and Amanda Thorman '13 lead the program into this season. Gray and Thorman were NESCAC all-conference second team selections in 2012 along with Alyssa Bawden '12, who graduated. Thorman has made the all-conference team twice and Claire Corroon '13 -- on the second team in 2011 -- is the third all-conference player on the roster. Corroon leads all active Hamilton players with 35 career wins. Lee, Thorman, Corroon, Alyssa Kasanoff '13 and Annabel Prouty '13 are the seniors on the roster.

Hamilton will participate in the NESCAC championships at Trinity College and Wesleyan University for the seventh straight year in February. The Continentals recorded their best finish in the event in 2012 when they were the No. 5 seed and ended up in fifth place with a 2-1 record. The team went 7-5 against NESCAC opponents last season. Kelly Whipple '10 was a three-time all-conference selection from 2008 to 2010. Jamie King was selected the 2011 NESCAC Coach of the Year. The team travels to Yale University for the 2013 College Squash Association (CSA) Team Championships, and a couple players go back to Trinity for the CSA individual championships.

Hamilton plays its home matches in the Little Squash Center. The $6.1 million on-campus squash facility was completed in October 2006. The center features 10 regulation-size courts, including two with exhibition-style seating, and two team locker rooms. The Continentals are scheduled to play at least five matches at home this season, and Williams College leads off on Nov. 16. Franklin & Marshall College, Northeastern University and Mount Holyoke College come to campus on Jan. 26 and 27, and St. Lawrence University visits the Little Squash Center on Jan. 30.

Hamilton has endured just one losing record in the past eight seasons, including 10-10 in 2011-12. The Continentals competed for the Kurtz Cup at the CSA team championships and ended up 16th in the final national rankings. Thorman (first position), Gray (second) and Corroon (third) were the top players in the lineup at the end of the season. Gray posted an 8-8 record and Corroon was 9-9.

Hannah Coffin '14 (fifth) won eight matches last season and Kelsey Bogle '14 boasted nine victories. Coffin played in the 2012 CSA Individual Championships. Bogle and Thorman also played in the individual championships during their career. Isabel Weisman '15 (seventh) won the most matches last season of anyone on the current roster with 13 as a rookie. Elizabeth Morris '15 (eighth) was right behind Weisman with 12 victories and an impressive 12-5 overall record. Katie Rogers '14 and Laura Russell '14 shared time at the ninth position in the lineup with eight and nine wins, respectively. Hillary Kolodner '14 ended the season on a six-match win streak and finished with a record of 11-3.

The Continentals finished 13-10 in 2010-11, and advanced to the finals of the Walker Cup draw at the CSA team championship. The women's squash program and King received the Chaffee Award for the first time during the 2011 CSA event at Princeton University. The award is given annually to a coach whose team has demonstrated the qualities of sportsmanship, teamwork, character, and improvement. In 1987, the Williams College women's squash team donated this award in honor of their former coach, Clarence C. Chaffee. Chaffee began Williams' squash program in 1938, coached the school's first intercollegiate team in 1939, and led the program until his retirement in 1970.

The team has become accustomed to fast starts in recent years. In 2009-10, the Continentals won their first seven matches and finished with a record of 15-8. The 15 wins are the second-highest total in program history, and Hamilton was No. 15 in the final CSA rankings. That ranking is believed to be tied for the team's best at the end of a season.

The Continentals won their first six matches in 2007-08 and went on to post a 14-8 record. Hamilton finished that season 15th in the final CSA team rankings after the Continentals defeated Tufts University in the Kurtz Cup consolation bracket at Princeton. The Continentals won seven of their first eight matches in 2006-07 -- a landmark season for the program. Hamilton competed up in the Kurtz Cup at the CSA team championship for the first time. The Continentals ended up with a 10-8 record, including 2-2 in the 2007 NESCAC Championships.

The Continentals were one of the most improved if not THE most improved women's squash program in the CSA during 2004-05. The Continentals finished with an overall record of 13-8 and all but one of those 13 wins came away from home. The Continentals were ranked 26th at the start of the season and peaked at No. 18 before they finally settled at No. 21. Hamilton captured the Walker Cup team trophy in 2000, when the team finished with a 13-6 record, and claimed Walker Cup consolation draw titles in 2005 and 2006. Hamilton finished with an amazing 18-4 record in 1992-93.

The Continentals excel on the court and in the classroom. Caroline Steers '05 was elected to the Epsilon chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, which is the nation's oldest and most prestigious honor society, in 2004-05. Lee and Thorman made the NESCAC winter all-academic team for the second time last season. Each honoree has a cumulative grade point average of at least 3.35 and must have reached sophomore academic standing at her institution.

Hamilton often travels during the winter break so the players can go to places they have never seen before. A January 2010 training trip took the team to Washington, D.C., for six days. In 2007, the team traveled to Bermuda for a seven-day training trip. The players worked with Shaun Moxham and his wife, Katline Cauwels. Moxham coaches David Palmer, who has been the world's top-ranked player.