The Hamilton College Continentals dropped their first of two weekend NESCAC games against the Williams College Ephs 4-1 at Hamilton’s Russell Sage Rink on Friday night.
The Continentals — ranked 10th in the USCHO.com Division III Top 10 poll — suffered their first loss after they started the season 4-0. Hamilton, which is 2-1 in the conference, outshot Williams 30-20.
Bobbi Roca ’24 won 15 of 20 faceoffs and Sidney Molnar ’22 made 16 saves for the Continentals. Chloe Heiting turned away 29 shots including 14 in the third period for the Ephs.
Hamilton’s lone goal cut its 2-0 deficit in half at 10:10 in the second period. Lisa Ito-Bagshaw ’25 won a faceoff in the Continentals’ offensive zone and passed the puck back to Emily Ferguson ’24. Ferguson hit the puck from the right side near the blue line to the far side of the net. Heiting made the first save, knocking the puck to the left side. Claire McGennis ’24 jumped on the rebound and shot towards the center of the net. Heiting made the second save, but knocked the rebound out to the right side of the net where Mya Berretta ’22 was ready. Berretta pounced on the rebound and knocked it behind Heiting before she made it across the crease. Berretta has two goals and five points this season.
Williams (2-2, 1-2) scored its first two goals in short succession to start the second period. Meghan Halloran opened the scoring just 37 seconds in with assists by Ellia Chiang and Maddie Zack. Just over a minute later at 1:54, Maddie Tix scored with an assist by Delaney Szlezyngier.
The score remained 2-1 for nearly 24 minutes until the Ephs scored another two in quick succession. Brynn Puppe scored unassisted with 5:21 left in the third, and Robin Kitazono completed the scoring 44 seconds later on assists by Brianna Hill and Christina Halloran.
Hamilton and Williams play each other again on Saturday, Dec. 4 at 3 p.m. inside Sage Rink.
