Hamilton College, the top-ranked team in the country, came out firing in the first two minutes of each half and had five goals during that time in taking a 14-9 victory over ninth-ranked Colby College in an NCAA Division III Tournament quarterfinal game Sunday.
Colby, which was playing in an NCAA quarterfinal game for the first time in program history, finishes the season at 15-5. Hamilton moves to 20-0 and will play in the NCAA Final Four for the third straight year. The Continentals are the 2008 NCAA champions.
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The Continentals showed why they are ranked first in the country with blistering starts to each half. Sarah Bray scored 15 seconds into the game and then tallied again just 25 seconds later to give Hamilton a 2-0 edge just 40 seconds into the contest.
(Hamilton's Sarah Bray (23) splits Colby defenders Kate Pistel (12) and Lexi Crook (15) as the Lady Continentals grab the game's opening possession.)
The Continentals scored three goals in one minute in the first two minutes of the second half. Anne Graveley scored with 29:04 remaining and Liz Rave added back-to-back goals with 28:30 and 28:04 to go.
The Mules had to be on the chase from the opening few minutes, but Colby never gave up and stayed in the game.
Kate Pistel cut the early 2-0 Hamilton lead in half with a goal only to see the Continentals run off three straight goals, the final one with 17:44 to play to intermission.
( Big crowd settles in on sunny day in mid may.)
Colby settled down after that scoring run and scored two of the final three goals to trail 6-3 at the break. Claire Donegan and Kathleen Kramer had the scores for the Mules.
The teams combined for 12 goals in the first 10:30 of the second half, with Hamilton using another 3-0 scoring run to take a 9-3 margin. Kramer and Donegan scored again to cut the lead to 9-5.
The teams traded goals (Colby's score was from Carly Rapaport), but Hamilton went on another 3-0 scoring run after that to make the margin 13-6 with 21:33 to play.
(Heads Up! Colby's Kate Pistel (12) comes over the top of Hamilton shooter Rachel Friedman (27) during first half action.)
Colby got as close as 13-8 on back-to-back goals by Amy Campbell and Casey Thomas with 20:30 and 19:30 left. No team managed a goal over the next 12 minutes and then the teams traded goals in the final seven minutes.
The setback marked the final game for seniors Caroline Atwater, Campbell, Caroline Duke, Kramer, Keryn Meierdiercks, and Rapaport. The six helped Colby to four straight New England Small College Athletic Conference title games and two league championships. The Mules were 56-18 over that time and made the NCAA tourney in three of the four years.
Campbell, who should get her second All-American honor in the next few weeks, finished the season with 50 goals and 19 assists for 69 points and ended her career at Colby with 136 goals and 35 assists for 171 points.
(Hamilton Senior attack Audrey Nebergall (10) works hard inside as Colby defender Mary Cummings (22) looks to intercept.)
Duke, another All-American, had two caused turnovers Sunday and finished her career with 98 groundballs and 97 caused turnovers. Kramer finished up with 93 goals and 22 assists for 115 points, while Atwater had 45 goals and 20 assists for 65 points. Rapaport had 28 goals and 18 assists for 46 points.
Meierdiercks played the final 23 minutes in goal and made five saves while allowing three goals. Sarah Warnke played 36 minutes for Colby and had four stops.
Hamilton 14, Colby 9
Colby............... 3 6 - 9
Hamilton College.... 6 8 - 14
Colby SCORING: GOALS: Kathleen Kramer 2; Claire Donegan 2; Amy Campbell 1; Carly Rapaport 1; Kate Pistel 1; Casey Thomas 1; Anne Geraghty 1.
ASSISTS: Amy Campbell 3; Caroline Atwater 1; Kathleen Kramer 1.
Hamilton College SCORING: GOALS: Anne Graveley 4; Sarah Bray 3; Liz
Rave 2; Libby Schultz 2; Rachel Friedman 1; Ashley Allen 1; Caroline Morgan 1. ASSISTS: Sarah Bray 3; Rachel Friedman 1; Anne Graveley 1.
SHOTS - Colby 21; Hamilton College 26. TURNOVERS - Colby 22; Hamilton College 15. CLEARS - Colby 12-19; Hamilton College 18-18. GOALIES - Colby: Sarah Warnke 15-4 (36:34 minutes, 15 shots-4 saves, 11 GA) , Keryn Meierdiercks (23:26, 8-5, 3); Hamilton: Kate Fowler 20-0
(60:00, 14-5, 9).
