Women's soccer earns 1-1 tie at Hamilton in NESCAC opener

Kyla Rabb and the Bates women's soccer team earned a 1-1 tie at Hamilton College in NESCAC play on Sept 12, 2015. (File photo by Phyllis Graber Jensen/Bates College)

CLINTON, New York -- The Bates College women's soccer team picked up a point in its NESCAC opener on Saturday, holding on to tie host Hamilton College 1-1 after a dramatic final moment of the second overtime period.

The Continentals (0-1-1, 0-1-1 NESCAC) narrowly missed winning the game; a deflection off a corner kick was ruled to have crossed the goal line just after the final buzzer ended the second overtime session.

The Continentals had two corner kick opportunities in the games' final 30 seconds. Becca Rees sent the first at the Bobcat net, where it was knocked over the end line by a Bates defender. With just over three seconds remaining, Blackwell's second kick was played in the air twice before winding up in the goal, but not before the horn had sounded.

Bates first-year student Olivia Amdur (Chicago, Ill.) gave Bates (1-0-1, 0-0-1 NESCAC) a one-goal advantage midway through the opening period. She took control of an unsettled ball and sent a 40-yard right-footed shot from the left side of the field toward the right post. The ball curved back into the post and into the net to give the visitors the lead. Amdur has played a role in three of Bates' four goals this season, with one goal and two assists.

A Blackwell corner kick set up the game-tying goal for Hamilton; six minutes into the second half, she sent a ball to the far post, where Cassie Hayward directed it back to the middle of the net for her first collegiate goal.

Hamilton came close to taking the lead in the 57th minute when an indirect kick bounced off the crossbar directly to Victoria Freeman, who headed the rebound into the arms of Bates sophomore goalkeeper Sarah McCarthy (Rockville Centre, N.Y.).

The Continentals owned a 25-8 advantage in shots and 11-0 in corner kicks. They had the best scoring opportunity of the second overtime session, but Bates nearly won the game twice in the first overtime, both off chances created by Amdur. Five minutes in, she had a breakaway thwarted when Hamilton's Olivia Simone took the ball from her at the top of the box. Four minutes later her high shot bounced off the cross bar directly to senior captain Leah Humes (Beaconsfield, Quebec), who headed the ball back at the net, but also at a Continental defender who knocked it away.

Emily Dumont made three saves for Hamilton and McCarthy stopped eight shots in the Bobcat net.

Bates will host Husson on Wednesday at 8pm. The game has been designated "Maine High School Night," with several area high school teams expected to attend.