Hamilton College's Hannah Jaiven '14 scored 1:16 into the sudden-victory overtime period and lifted the Continentals to a 5-4 NESCAC win against Colby College at Hamilton's Russell Sage Rink on Feb. 17.
The Continentals (13-10-1 overall, 7-8-1 NESCAC) tied the program record for wins in a season. Hamilton also won 13 games in 2002-03. The Continentals have won six of the last seven games against Colby, including 3-1 at home Saturday night, and lead the all-time series, 13-12-3.
Hamilton tied for fifth place with Connecticut College in the conference standings and will be the No. 6 seed for the NESCAC championship. The Continentals travel to No. 3 seed Amherst College in the quarterfinals on Saturday, Feb. 23, at a time to be determined.
The Mules (10-14-0, 4-12) finished in eighth place and will play at No. 1 seed Middlebury College in the quarterfinals on Saturday. The start time for that game has not been announced.
Katie Zimmerman '13 posted two goals and one assist for the winners. Zimmerman is the first Hamilton women's player to score 20 goals in a season since Stephanie Miguel '11 tallied 21 in 2008-09. Zimmerman leads the NESCAC with 20 goals and 29 points.
Jill Tokarczyk '14 and Nikki Haskins '14 added the other goals for the Continentals. Hannah Bartlett '16 was credited with three assists and Abby Runyon '13 picked up a pair of helpers. Naomi Woolfenden '16 had an assist and Becca Hazlett '13 made 15 saves.
Samantha Slotnick '14 notched a pair of goals for Colby. Annie Papadellis '14 recorded one goal and one assist, and Lauren Guarente '15 scored the other goal. Katie Tang '16 finished with two assists and Elisa Rascia '16 and Megan Fortier '16 had one apiece. Brianne Wheeler '14 turned away 36 shots.
Special teams played a huge role as seven of the nine goals were scored on the power play, including the game-winner. Hamilton was 4-for-10 on power-play chances, and the Mules were 3-for-7. The Continentals enjoyed a 41-19 shot advantage, and took all three shots in the overtime.
Hamilton began overtime with a 4-on-3 power play due to a new NESCAC rule this season that states all women's conference games skate 4-on-4 in the extra session. A shot by Bartlett rang off the crossbar and the puck fell straight down to Wheeler's right. Jaiven was waiting at the left post to tap it in for her sixth goal. Bartlett leads the team with 12 assists.
Hamilton notched the first goal on Haskins’ second in as many days while the Continentals had a 5-on-3 advantage at 7:01 of the first period. Bartlett sent a pass to Zimmerman along the goal line. Zimmerman passed it up to Haskins in the slot for the shot. Wheeler stopped the first one, but Haskins put back the rebound for her 14th goal.
With six minutes left in the first, Rascia received a pass in front and got a shot off, but Hazlett made a nice kick save. However, the Mules tied the score on the power play with 5:12 left in the period. Papadellis gained possession of the puck in Colby's zone and carried it into Hamilton's zone to the top of the right faceoff circle. Papadellis' bouncing shot snuck under Hazlett's legs for her ninth goal.
Just over eight minutes into the second period, a pair of penalties on the Continentals gave the Mules a 5-on-3 advantage for 34 seconds. Hamilton didn’t allow a shot on goal, but was called for another penalty at 9:51 to put Colby back on a 5-on-3. Tang won the ensuing faceoff for the Mules to Slotnick, who scored from inside the right faceoff circle four seconds later.
The Continentals tied it at 2-2 with 1:41 left in the second on their second 5-on-3 goal of the afternoon. Stationed on the top of the right faceoff circle, Bartlett slid a pass over to Woolfenden on the left side. Woolfenden passed down to Runyon at the bottom of the circle, and she passed across the crease to Zimmerman at the right post for the one-timer.
Colby regained the lead just 1:41 into the third period, and added another goal 54 seconds later for a 4-2 advantage. On the power play, Papadellis held the puck along the right boards near the faceoff circle and passed to Tang near the crease. Tang tapped the puck to Slotnick on her right and Slotnick chipped in her second goal of the day and seventh this season.
Guarente scored her seventh goal for the Mules at 2:35 when she carried the puck from the neutral zone and flipped in a backhander on the left side of the goal. Rascia and Fortier added the assists.
Hamilton chipped away at the Colby lead 5:15 into the third when Tokarczyk stole a pass at the bottom of the left faceoff circle and put a shot by Wheeler for her fourth goal. The Continentals tied the score on their third 5-on-3 goal with 5:17 to go in regulation. Bartlett passed the puck down low to Zimmerman on the right side, who slid a pass over to Runyon in the slot. Runyon put two shots on goal before Zimmerman collected the second miss and scored the equalizer.
