Photo credit: Scott Kinville/315 Hockey.
By Scott Kinville/315 Hockey.
It’s NCAA Tournament time for Division III Women’s Hockey, and for Central New York it all starts on Wednesday Night at Sage Rink in Clinton. The sixth-ranked Hamilton College Continentals are hosting the twelfth-ranked Nazareth Golden Flyers in a first-round tournament matchup. The teams have already played each other this season on January 10th at Sage Rink in a game won by the Continentals by a 4-1 margin.
The Continentals last played on Saturday, a 5-0 loss to the third-ranked Amherst Mammoths in the NESCAC Tournament Final. Despite the loss, Hamilton College has consistently been one of the best teams in Division III Women’s Hockey. They won twenty games this season with eleven of those victories coming against teams that are either currently ranked or were ranked at the time they played them.
The Continentals entered the NCAA Tournament via one of the four at-large bids in the eleven-team field.
The Nazareth Golden Flyers joined the NCAA Tournament by virtue of the automatic bid from their UCHC Tournament win. They enter Wednesday night’s game undefeated in their last ten games – the only game they did not win outright in that span was a 2-2 tie against #13 Utica on February 17th. The Golden Flyers have won twenty- two games this season and have played five games against teams that are ranked or were ranked when they played them, and are 2-2-1 in those games.
The winner of Wednesday night’s game plays #5 Adrian in the next round of the NCAA Tournament while the other team’s season ends. Let’s take a look at how the Hamilton College Continentals and Nazareth Golden Flyers match up against each other.
Hamilton College Continentals Team Records
- Overall Record: 20-5-2.
- National Rank: #6.
- NESCAC Record: 12-3-1.
- Home Record: 11-3-0.
- Goal Differential: +35.
- Head Coach: Emily McNamara.
Nazareth Golden Flyers Team Records
- Overall Record: 22-5-1.
- National Rank: #12.
- UCHC Record: 18-1-1.
- Away record: 9-4-0.
- Goal Differential: +89.
- Head Coach: Chris Baudo.
Hamilton College Continentals Team Offense
- Goals For: 72.
- Goals Per Game: 2.7 (31st in Division III).
- Shots: 815.
- Shots Per Game: 30.2
- Power Play: 22.0% (13 for 59 – 19th in Division III).
Nazareth Golden Flyers Team Offense
- Goals For: 119.
- Goals Per Game: 4.3 (6th in Division III).
- Shots: 1,286.
- Shots Per Game: 45.9.
- Power Play: 28.7% (27 for 94 – 4th in Division III).
Hamilton College Continentals Top Five Scorers + Individual Leaders
1.) Nancy Loh: 20 goals + 5 assists = 25 points. Loh is tied for 12th in Division III in goals.
2.) Hyla Mosher: 8 goals + 14 assists = 22 points.
3.) Abby Kuhns: 7 goals + 14 assists = 21 points.
4.) Abby Smith: 9 goals + 9 assists = 18 points.
5.) Claire McGennis: 4 goals + 12 assists = 16 points.
- Shots Leader: nancy Loh with 110.
- Power Play Goals Leader: Abby Kuhns with six. Kuhns is tied for 11thh in Division III in power-play goals.
- Game Winning Goals Leader: Nancy Loh with eight. Loh is tied for 1st in Division III with Plattsburgh’s Sara Krauseneck.
- +/- Leader: Abby Kuhns at +21.
Nazareth Golden Flyers Top Five Scorers + Individual Leaders
1.) Ally Watrous: 14 goals + 20 assists = 34 points. Watrous is 21st in Division III in points and tied for 22nd in assists.
2.) Abbey Luth: 8 goals + 23 assists = 31 points. Luth is 12th in Division III in assists and tied for 28th in points.
3.) Makenna Wiljanen: 15 goals + 13 assists = 28 points.
4.) Julia Holmes: 8 goals + 20 assists = 28 points. Holmes is tied for 22nd in Division III in assists.
5.) Abby Flanagan: 14 goals + 11 assists = 25 points.
- Shots Leader: Ally Watrous with 192.
- Power Play Goals Leader: Makenna Wiljanen with five. Wiljanen is tied for 23rd in Division III in power-play goals.
- Game Winning Goals Leader: Julia Holmes with five. Holmes is tied for fourth in Division III in game-winning goals.
- +/- Leader: Audrey Donahue at +32.
Hamilton College Continentals Team Defense
- Goals Against: 37.
- Goals Against Per Game: 1.4 (9th in Division III).
- Shots Allowed: 603.
- Shots Allowed Per Game: 22.3.
- Penalty Kill: 88.9% (48 for 54).
- Shorthanded Goals Scored: 2.
Nazareth Golden Flyers Team Defense
- Goals Against: 30.
- Goals Against Per Game: 1.1 (5th in Division III).
- Shots Allowed: 476.
- Shots Allowed Per Game: 17.0.
- Penalty Kill: 88.1% (74 for 84).
- Shorthanded Goals Scored: 2.
Hamilton College Continentals Goaltenders
- Evie Sheridan: Record: 13-4-1 / GAA: 1.53 / Save Percentage: 0.936 / Saves: 409 / Shutouts: 4. Sheridan is 17th in Division III in GAA and shutouts and tied for 26th in save percentage.
- Mac Donovan: Record: 4-1-0 / GAA: 0.64 / Save Percentage: 0.972 / Saves: 106 / Shutouts: 1.
- Cate Gallagher: Record: 3-0-1 / GAA: 1.21 / Save Percentage: 0.911 / Saves: 51 / Shutouts: 0.
Nazareth Golden Flyers Goaltenders
- McKinley Hoff: Record: 16-4-1 / GAA: 1.07 / Save Percentage: 0.940 / Saves: 362 / Shutouts: 8. Hoff is 5th in Division III in GAA, tied for 3rd in shutouts, and 17th in save percentage.
- Maïka Paquin: Record: 6-1-0 / GAA: 0.86 / Save Percentage: 0.933 / Saves: 84 / Shutouts: 4.
Wednesday night’s game is scheduled to begin at 7 pm EST. Tickets will be sold in person only beginning at 5 pm in the Emerson Lobby at Alumni Gym next to Sage Rink. For more information, click here: Ticket info for NCAA women’s hockey championship first-round game.
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