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| Sydney Howard led Bates with three goals in an 8-7 victory over Hamilton on April 2, 2016. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/Bates College) |
Bates (9-1, 4-1 NESCAC) remains on its best start since 1992. This is the Bobcats' first nine-win season since 2011, as well as the second since 2001 and the third since 1992.
Hamilton (6-3, 2-3 NESCAC) lost its second straight game after winning six in a row.
Bates' NESCAC-leading defense, which entered the game allowing 5.1 goals per game, came up big after the offense went silent for the Bobcats over the final 22 minutes.
Senior Cara Cappellini (Manhasset, N.Y.) made a big takeaway in front of the Bates goal with two
minutes to go. Senior goalkeeper Hannah Jeffrey's (Greenwich, Conn.) save on a free-position shot by Hamilton's leading scorer, junior Morgan Fletcher, with one minute left in the game helped Bates hold onto the lead it first achieved with 10:45 remaining in the first half. Cappellini caused four turnovers in the game and Jeffrey finished with seven saves.
Bates senior Moriah Greenstein (Glenmont, N.Y.), the NESCAC leader in goals (30) and points (50), was held to one goal on two shots in the game. Stepping up to provide offense for the Bobcats were the likes of first-year Sydney Howard (Ashland, Mass.), who scored three goals on three shots, and sophomore Teal Otley (Cumberland, Maine) with two goals on five shots. Junior Drew Barry (Portland, Maine) dished out two assists.
Hamilton junior Morgan Fletcher, the Continentals' leading scorer with 19 goals entering the game, was similarly held to one goal on three shots. Sophomore Darby Philbrick scored two goals, while senior captains Caroline McCarthy and Margaret Gabriel added one goal and one assist apiece.
Hamilton outscored Bates 3-1 over the first 14 minutes. Kara Pooley led off the scoring before Philbrick sandwiched Greenstein's goal with two unassisted tallies of her own.
Bates responded with three straight, beginning at the 15:29 mark when Barry found Otley open near the right goalpost with a brilliant pass over the Hamilton defense. A minute later, junior Sydney Cowles (Wayne, Pa.) set up Howard's first goal, tying the game at 3-3. And with 13:25 to go, Howard batted in the rebound off a save by Hannah Burrall, giving Bates its first lead at 4-3.
Fletcher got into the scoring column for Hamilton at 12:58 of the first half, taking advantage of a one-on-one clearout, before Otley moved Bates ahead for good with 10:45 left, with a low underhanded free-position shot. Bates took its 5-4 lead into halftime.
Bates sophomore Camille Belletete (Jaffrey, N.H.) scored by batting in another rebound to open the scoring in the second half, 2:26 in. Howard weaved through Hamilton's defense to expand the lead to 7-4, and with 22:01 to go, Barry found sophomore Allison Dewey (Vergennes, Vt.) cutting for the 8-4 lead.
With 20:17 left in regulation, Hamilton scored its first goal in more than 22 minutes, as McCarthy scored unassisted. Philbrick won the ensuing draw for the Continentals, and with 18:50 to go in teh game McCarthy assisted a cutting Gabriel to make it 8-6 for suddenly surging Hamilton.
The score remained 8-6 for 13 minutes before the Continentals made it a one-goal game, with Gabriel finding the cutter Casey File with 5:42 left in the game, File's first goal of the game.
Cappellini made two solo defensive takeaways in the final 4:11, and Jeffrey made two saves in the same time span to preserve the win for Bates.
Bates next plays at Bowdoin on Wednesday at 7pm.
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