The Hamilton College women’s hockey team scored three third-period goals in just over three minutes to beat visiting Colby 6-4 in a NESCAC game at Russell Sage Rink Friday night. The Continentals’ six goals marked their highest total in a NESCAC game in four seasons.
Box score
Hannah Bartlett ’16 finished with a career-best three points and five Continentals picked up their first points of the season. Hamilton (3-2-0, 2-1 NESCAC) trailed three times – once in each period – before scoring three times in a 3:07 span of the final period to erase the Mules’ 4-3 advantage.
Olivia Hawes ’19 – one of two Hamilton players who picked up her first collegiate point – kicked off the comeback, scoring a power-play goal to tie the score 11:41 into the period. The hosts needed just 28 seconds to take the lead, going ahead for good on a goal by Katie Parkman ‘17. The Continentals’ insurance goal came from Taegan Blackwell ’19, who scored with 5:12 remaining to seal the win.
Hamilton’s six goals matched the program’s highest single-game mark against a NESCAC opponent since a 6-3 win at Williams Jan. 12, 2013.
Sam Walther ’18 stopped 22 shots; her seven third-period saves included three spectacular stops – two with the Mules skating with a six-on-five advantage.
Bartlett scored Hamilton’s first two goals, opening the scoring less than three minutes into the first period and pulling the Continentals into a 2-2 tie with just 21 seconds left in the first.
Her first goal came off a rebound of a shot by Maddie Carras ’18 that was saved by Colby goaltender Angelica Crites. Emily Williams ’19 also assisted on the goal, earning her first collegiate point.
Sasha Fritts, who had a hand in the first three Mule goals, set up Bre Davis to tie the score eight minutes into the first. Fritts collected a deflected pass from behind the net and found Davis in the slot to put Colby (2-3-0, 1-2 NESCAC) on the board.
Fritts intercepted a pass deep in the Hamilton end late in the period and snapped a shot into the net on Walther’s glove side.
The Mules nearly took their lead into the first intermission but Bartlett pushed a loose puck into the net with just 21 seconds left after a scrum in front of the net on a power play. She’s recorded the first two two-goal games of her career in Hamilton’s last two contests.
Colby regained the lead 4:23 into the second on a rebound goal by Fritts, taking advantage of the first penalty whistled against a Hamilton player in 84 minutes. Katie Tang and Katie McLaughlin – whose shot was saved by Walther before the puck squirted off to Fritts – picked up assists.
Blackwell’s first career goal tied the score midway through the second and the Mules took their last lead in the period’s final minute on a McLaughlin goal.
Caroline Knop '18, Sara Taffe '17 and Naomi Woolfenden '16 each picked up their first assist of the season on one of Hamilton's third-period goals. Parkman recorded her team-leading fifth assist on Blackwell's second goal.
The Continentals outshot the visitors 19-7 in the final 20 minutes (and 39-26 for the game) in posting their fifth series win in the last seven meetings. The two teams – who conclude their weekend series at 3 p.m. Saturday – had played five straight one-goal games.
