CLINTON, NY – A hard fought, overtime contest went to host Hamilton College on Tuesday night, defeating the University of Rochester field hockey team 3-2 at Goodfriend Field.
Rochester (4-2) snaps a two-game winning streak with the loss, while Hamilton improves to 2-1 on the young season, winning its third straight in the series with the Yellowjackets. The two teams also played into overtime last season, with the Continentals winning 2-1 in Rochester at Fauver Stadium.
Mara Heppard scored both goals for the Yellowjackets, her second and third tallies of the season. Rochester's offense was thwarted by a stiff Hamilton defense all night, getting held to just five shots, two of which were on goal and ended in the cage.
In goal,
Helen Schmitter made six saves, while defender
Elisabeth Sidorski made a pair of key defensive saves for Rochester.
Alana King, Maura Holden and Lilly Truchon scored for the Continentals, with Truchon's first score of the year being the game-winner in the 68th minute.
For the contest, Hamilton held a 21-5 shot advantage and 12-6 lead in corners.
Hamilton started out quick, earning a penalty corner in the games opening minute. That PC led to a pair shot attempts in close, the second of which off the stick of Camille Donaghey, was saved from going in by Sidorski.
In the 12th minute, Hamilton again attacked offensively, but two shots by Hannah Dillon were turned away by Schmitter.
The Continentals struck for the games first goal four minutes into the second quarter on a penalty corner. The shot was a blast from the left wing to the low left corner off the stick of King following a corner insert from Delaney Grace.
Rochester's first offensive corner came in the 23rd minute. Heppard inserted to
Maeve Fogarty who passed it right back to Heppard at the left post, but the attempt was broken up before a shot could be taken, allowing Hamilton to remain in the lead.
After intermission, Rochester evened the game on the first shot of the third quarter. After a penalty corner insert by Heppard,
Karina Bridger settled the ball at the top of the circle. She sent a pass in deep on the right side where
Bella Militi crossed the ball over to Heppard at the far post for a slap in goal.
Four minutes later, a long pass from Bridger up the right side to a hard-charging
Nikki Mercer connected, but the UR senior couldn't get the direction right on the shot, sending her attempt just wide of the right post.
Late in the period, Hamilton regained the lead on a rebound goal by Holden. The initial shot off the penalty corner by Becky Felker was swept off the line by Sidorski, but the clearance attempt went right to Holden who found the cage for the 2-1 Hamilton advantage.
The Yellowjackets continued to fight back though, earning a pair of quick corners at the start of the fourth quarter. The second corner led to a deflection shot by
Anya Arseneau that went just wide of the post.
With under four minutes left in regulation, Rochester nabbed the tying goal, again off the stick of Heppard. The goal came off a deflection of a hard
Zoe Conomikes blast off of a penalty corner.
With the field players cut in half during the extra period, the game really opened up in the early moments of overtime.
Hamilton's Grace broke in free just 11 seconds in, but her fast break shot sailed wide of the cage.
A few minutes later, Fogarty had a steal deep in Hamilton territory, but the Continental defense recovered in time to break up the play, forcing the ball out of bounds wide of the net.
The game-winner came off the lone penalty corner in the overtime period. It was a give-and-go shot in the center circle by Claire Tratnyek that ended up getting tipped into the goal amidst a slew of traffic in front by Truchon.
Rochester's next matchup is a Saturday contest at SUNY New Paltz.
