WOMEN’S LACROSSE 2012 NESCAC CHAMPIONSHIP PREVIEW
Jim Taylor
Nationally ranked No. 18 Hamilton College takes on No. 4 Trinity College in a 2012 NESCAC women’s lacrosse championship semifinal at Trinity’s Robin L. Sheppard Field in Hartford, Conn., on Saturday, May 5, at noon.
No. 6 Amherst College and No. 8 Middlebury College meet in the second semifinal at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday. The semifinal winners play for the conference title at Trinity on Sunday, May 6, at noon. The NESCAC champion receives an automatic bid to the 2012 NCAA Division III Championship.
Hamilton (7-9 overall) is seeded seventh in the championship. The Continentals upset No. 2 seed Colby College 9-4 in the quarterfinals last Saturday in Waterville, Maine. Hamilton is making its first appearance in this event as the College’s lacrosse teams competed in the Liberty League from 1996 to 2011. The Continentals are vying for their sixth straight trip to the NCAA championship. Rachel Friedman ’13 ranks fourth on the team’s all-time list with 148 career goals.
Trinity (14-1) is the top seed and defending NESCAC champion, and defeated Bates College 12-8 in the quarterfinals. The Bantams edged Hamilton 8-7 at home on April 21 as part of a 13-game win streak to open 2012. All seven of Trinity’s wins in this event have been recorded from 2008 to this year. This marks the third straight year the Bantams have been the NESCAC Championship’s No. 1 seed. Trinity was knocked off in the 2010 semifinals by No. 7 seed Williams College.
Amherst (12-3) is seeded fourth in the championship and rides a six-game win streak into the weekend. The Jeffs squeaked past Bowdoin College 9-7 in the quarters. Amherst has played in this event all 12 years and owns a 15-11 record in the championship. The Jeffs were runners-up every year from 2001 to 2005, but hasn’t reached the title game since then. Amherst leads the NESCAC with a 6.59 goals against average, and Alex Philie tops the conference with 59 draw controls.
Middlebury (11-3) is seeded third in the championship and defeated Tufts University 12-8 in the quarters. For the first seven years of the NESCAC Championship, the Panthers dominated the event. Middlebury won seven conference titles from 2001 to 2007, but hasn’t played in the final since then. The Panthers have a 16-4 record in 12 appearances. Middlebury, which leads the NESCAC with 13.50 goals per game, won its first nine games this year.
A capsule look at all four semifinalists may be found below.
No. 7 seed HAMILTON COLLEGE
Overall record: 7-9
Conference record (finish): 4-6 (7th place)
National ranking: No. 18
Head coach: Patty Kloidt, 10th year, 138-42
NESCAC championship appearances: First
NESCAC championship titles: None
NESCAC championship record: 1-0
Last win vs. Trinity: 2008, 13-9
Road/neutral record: 5-6
Goals per game: 10.38
Goals allowed per game: 9.63
Leading goal scorers: Rachel Friedman ’13 (37), Katie D’Antonio ‘14 (26), Libby Schultz ’12 (23)
Assist leaders: Schultz (26), Friedman (13), D’Antonio (13)
Starting goalie: Dewi Caswell ‘14 (9.49 gaa, .403 save pct., 6-6)
No. 1 seed TRINITY COLLEGE
Overall record: 14-1
Conference record (finish): 9-1 (T-1st place)
National ranking: No. 4
Head coach: Kathryn Livesay, 6th year, 80-22
NESCAC championship appearances: 8th
NESCAC championship titles: One (2011)
NESCAC championship record: 7-6
Last win vs. Hamilton: 2012, 8-7 (April 21 at Trinity)
Home record: 6-1
Goals per game: 12.60
Goals allowed per game: 8.18
Leading goal scorers: Hadley Duncan ’13 (45), Megan Leonhard ’13 (39), Caite Irvine ’12 (38)
Assist leaders: Liz Bruno ’12 (20), Shea Kusiak ’14 (10)
Starting goalie: Olivia Whitney ’13 (8.18 gaa, .400 save pct., 12-1)
No. 3 seed MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE
Overall record: 11-3
Conference record (finish): 7-3 (T-3rd place)
National ranking: No. 8
Head coach: Missy Foote, 32nd year, 372-99-1
NESCAC championship appearances: 12th
NESCAC championship titles: Seven (2001-2007)
NESCAC championship record: 16-4
Last win vs. Amherst: 2012, 8-5 (April 7 at Amherst)
Road/neutral record: 6-1
Goals per game: 13.50
Goals allowed per game: 7.63
Leading goal scorers: Margaret Souther ’13 (27), Liza Herzog ’14 (27), Katie Ritter ‘15 (26), Michaela Colbert ’13 (25)
Assist leaders: Souther (19), Elizabeth Garry ’12 (13), Ellen Halle ‘13 (13)
Starting goalie: Lily Nguyen ’12 (6.68 gaa, .477 save pct., 11-2)
No. 4 seed AMHERST COLLEGE
Overall record: 12-3
Conference record (finish): 7-3 (T-3rd place)
National ranking: No. 6
Head coach: Christine Paradis, 18th year, 220-74
NESCAC championship appearances: 12th
NESCAC championship titles: None
NESCAC championship record: 15-11
Last win vs. Middlebury: 2011, 14-11
Road/neutral record: 7-2
Goals per game: 10.60
Goals allowed per game: 6.59
Leading goal scorers: Marta Randall ’13 (39), Allie Horwitz ’12 (28), Alex Philie ’14 (19)
Assist leaders: Hillary Densen ‘13 (15), Horwitz (11)
Starting goalie:
NUMBER 19 WOMEN’S LACROSSE MOVES TO NESCAC SEMIS WITH UPSET AT COLBY
Rachel Friedman ’13 scored three goals to lead nationally ranked No. 19 Hamilton College to a 9-4 upset over No. 6 Colby College in a 2012 NESCAC Championship quarterfinal at Colby’s Bill Alfond Field on April 28.
Hamilton (7-9 overall) was the championship’s No. 7 seed, while Colby was the No. 2 seed. The Continentals advance to take on top-seeded Trinity College in a semifinal at Trinity’s Sheppard Field on Saturday, May 5, at noon. The winner plays in the title game at Trinity on Sunday, May 6.
Hamilton stopped Colby’s win streak at five games, and the Continentals also snapped the Mules’ 15-game home win streak. Colby had appeared in each of the last five NESCAC championship games.
Katie D’Antonio ’14 posted two goals and one assist, and Madison Beres ’15 added two goals. Libby Schultz ’12 tallied one goal and one assist, and Emily Brodsky ’14 scored the other goal.
Meg Pengue ’12 forced a game-high four turnovers, and Josie Jones ’12 and Lauren Sokol ’12 each won three draw controls. Paige Engeldrum ’13 scooped up a game-high four ground balls. Dewi Caswell ’14 started in goal and made three saves in the first half. Kari Koga ’15 replaced Caswell at halftime and made six saves in the second half.
Sarah Lux scored twice to lead the Mules’ offense. Lindsey McKenna and Katie Griffin scored the other two goals, and Claire Donegan was credited with two assists. Donegan and Kirsten Karis each collected three ground balls. Michelle Burt stopped nine shots in net.
Beres opened the scoring with an unassisted goal 2 minutes, 35 seconds into the game. Colby responded with the next two goals to take a 2-1 lead. McKenna found the back of the net off an assist from Donegan with 26:08 remaining in the half, and Lux scored with 17:33 on the clock.
The Continentals scored three straight goals to take a 4-2 lead heading into halftime. Friedman tied the score at 2 with an unassisted goal with 16:15 left in the half, and Brodsky gave the Continentals the lead for good with a free-position goal with 10:59 remaining. D’Antonio added a free-position goal with 4:35 on the clock.
Colby (13-2) pulled within 4-3 with 26:28 to play when Donegan found Griffin for a goal. But Friedman and D’Antonio scored back-to-back unassisted goals to put Hamilton ahead 6-3 with 23:13 left.
Lux scored off an assist from Griffin to cut the Mules’ deficit to 6-4 with 18:41 remaining. Schultz found Beres for a goal with 14:12 left and D’Antonio fed Schultz for a score with 11:05 left to stretch the Continentals’ lead to 8-4. Friedman added an unassisted tally with 8:08 to play for the final margin.
Hamilton held a 25-22 shot advantage and a 10-5 edge in draw controls. The Continentals are making their first appearance in this event. Hamilton’s lacrosse teams competed in the Liberty League from 1996 to 2011.
Hamilton College travels to nationally ranked No. 20 Trinity College for a 2012 NESCAC men’s lacrosse championship quarterfinal at Trinity’s Jessee/Miller Field in Hartford, Conn., on Saturday, April 28.
No admission fee will be charged for this event that starts at 1 p.m. The winner moves on to the championship semifinals, which will be held at the site of the highest remaining seed, on Saturday, May 5. The title game is scheduled for Sunday, May 6.
Hamilton (9-5 overall, 5-5 NESCAC) tied for sixth place in the conference standings and is the championship’s No. 7 seed. The Continentals are making their first appearance in this event. Hamilton’s lacrosse teams competed in the Liberty League from 1996 to 2011.
The Continentals have won three straight games and eight of their last nine heading into Saturday. One of those victories was a 9-7 triumph over Trinity at home on April 21. Hamilton owns a 6-3 record in games decided by two goals or less this year.
The Continentals are led by Jon Leanos ’12, who ranks fourth in program history with 174 career points and fifth with 90 assists. Henry Burchenal ’12 is third with 104 career goals and goalie Max Vaickus ’12 is fourth all-time with 463 saves. Hamilton has won two of the three all-time meetings with the Bantams.
Trinity (9-5, 7-3) finished second in the conference standings and is the championship’s No. 2 seed. The Bantams have won one game — last year — in six previous trips to this event. The No. 2 seed is Trinity’s highest in NESCAC championship history.
At the start of the week, the Bantams led the NESCAC in man-up goals and caused turnovers per game. Trinity has a 4-3 record in contests decided by two goals or less. The Bantams posted a seven-game win streak earlier this season.
Please find team capsules listed below.
No. 7 seed HAMILTON COLLEGE
Overall record: 9-5
Conference record (finish): 5-5 (T-6th place)
Head coach: Scott Barnard, 6th year, 44-39
NESCAC championship appearances: First
NESCAC championship titles: None
NESCAC championship record: 0-0
Last win vs. Trinity: 2012, 9-7 (April 20 at Hamilton)
Road/neutral record: 5-2
Goals per game: 9.93
Goals allowed per game: 8.86
Leading goal scorers: Henry Burchenal ’12 (30), Jon Leanos ’12 (26), Luke Sadoff ’12 (22)
Assist leaders: Leanos (19), Sadoff (13), Paul Armideo ’13 (13)
Starting goalie: Max Vaickus ’12 (8.65 gaa, .544 save pct., 9-5)
No. 2 seed TRINITY COLLEGE
Overall record: 9-5
Conference record (finish): 7-3 (2nd place)
National ranking: No. 20
NCAA regional ranking: No. 6 in North Region
Head coach: Michael Higgins, 2nd year, 21-9
NESCAC championship appearances: Seventh
NESCAC championship titles: None
NESCAC championship record: 1-6
Last win vs. Hamilton: 2000, 10-7
Home record: 5-2
Goals per game: 8.71
Goals allowed per game: 7.89
Leading goal scorers: Rob Nogueras (30), Nick Shaheen (15), Jeff Hebert (13)
Assist leaders: Hauck (10), Shaheen (8), Hebert (8)
Starting goalie: Peter Johnson (7.89 gaa, .598 save pct., 9-5)
MEN’S LACROSSE UPSETS # 3 AMHERST
Max Vaickus ’12 stopped 11 shots, including all five he faced in the second half, to lead Hamilton College to a 12-6 upset win over nationally ranked No. 3 Amherst College in a NESCAC game at Amherst’s Gooding Field on March 31.
Hamilton (3-4 overall, 2-4 NESCAC) defeated Amherst for the first time in three meetings. The Lord Jeffs entered the week with a seven-game win streak. The Continentals’ last win over a ranked opponent was a 9-8 victory against No. 11 Skidmore College on April 20, 2011.
Jon Leanos ’12, Bryan Hopper ’14 and Henry Burchenal ’12 each tallied two goals and one assist. Leanos leads the team with 16 goals and 24 points. Luke Sadoff ’12 chipped in a goal and two assists, and Paul Armideo ’13 added two goals. Paul Citarella ’12, Luke Walsh ’13 and McCullough Shriver ’13 each scored a goal.
Citarella won nine faceoffs and led the team with five ground balls. Armideo scooped up four ground balls, and Chad Berger ’14 collected three to go with a pair of caused turnovers.
Aaron Mathias led the Lord Jeffs offensively with three goals. Devin Acton chipped in two goals and Cole Cherney added one. Alex Fox tallied two assists and Evan Redwood had one. Duncan Morrissey won 11 faceoffs and collected a game-high eight ground balls. Will Reed caused a pair of turnovers and Sam Jakimo made 10 saves.
Hamilton trailed 6-5 at the half, but did not allow a goal in the third and fourth quarters. Leanos tied the score with a man-up goal off an assist from Sadoff just 13 seconds into the third quarter. Burchenal gave the Continentals the lead for good at 8:20 of the third when he tallied his 13th goal off a feed from Hopper.
Hamilton won the ensuing faceoff and Citarella raced downfield and scored just seven seconds later to make it 8-6. Hopper, Leanos and Walsh each added unassisted tallies early in the fourth quarter. Shriver closed the scoring with his first goal with 4:16 to play.
The Continentals took a 2-0 lead with 8:53 left in the first quarter after Sadoff and Armideo found the back of the net. Mathias then cut Amherst’s deficit to 2-1 with 7:02 remaining in the quarter. Hamilton struck back with a goal by Armideo off an assist from Leanos with 3:45 left. But Cherney scored with 1:15 on the clock, and Acton found the back of the net with 1 second remaining to tie the score at 3 after one quarter.
Sadoff found Hopper for a goal at 12:03 of the second to put the Continentals ahead 4-3. Acton’s second goal at 11:23 of the quarter tied the score, and the Lord Jeffs took the lead on Mathias’ man-up goal with 9:37 left. After Burchenal pulled Hamilton even with 3:57 remaining, Mathias again gave Amherst the lead with 2:49 to play in the half.
Amherst (7-2, 3-2) held a 36-34 shot advantage. Hamilton scooped up 31 ground balls to the Lord Jeffs’ 29, and the Continentals committed just 11 turnovers. Hamilton was 1-for-3 with the extra man, while Amherst was 1-for-4.
Hamilton travels to SUNY Oneonta for a non-conference game on Wednesday, April 4, at 5 p.m.
#17 WOMEN’S LACROSSE FALLS TO SUNY ONEONTA
Caroline Tully ’13 posted four goals and one assist to lead SUNY Oneonta to a 13-12 win over nationally ranked No. 17 Hamilton College in a non-conference game at Hamilton’s Steuben Field on March 27.
Rebecca Monteith ’12 added three goals and two assists, and Heidi Kissinger ’12 chipped in three goals and an assist for the Red Dragons. Kiera McNally ’15 scored a goal to go along with two assists, and Nikki Fioretti ’15 and Nicole Boylan ’15 added one goal and one assist apiece. Jillian Donodeo ’15 was credited with an assist.
Kissinger led the team with a game-high nine draw controls. Monteith and Fioretti each caused three turnovers, and Monteith scooped up a game-high five ground balls. Annelise Muscietta ’12 made eight saves in goal.
Katie D’Antonio ’14 paced the Continentals’ offense with a career-high five goals. Libby Schultz ’12 added two goals and three assists, and Emily Brodsky ’14 tallied two goals and an assist. Kathryn Maiorano ’14, Hannah Hoar ’13 and Ellen Esterhay ’14 chipped in one goal apiece.
Lauren Sokol ’12 and Meg Pengue ’12 each caused three turnovers, and Sokol won five draw controls. Madison Beres ’15 won four draw controls, and D’Antonio picked up three ground balls. Dewi Caswell ’14 started in goal and made four saves in the first half. Kari Koga ’15 made her first appearance in goal for the Continentals. Koga replaced Caswell at halftime, and made five saves over the final 30 minutes.
Oneonta (6-0 overall) scored the game-winning goal with 4 minutes, 12 seconds remaining when Fioretti netted her eighth goal on an assist from Monteith. Hamilton had several chances to score over the final four minutes, including a free-position attempt with 26 seconds on the clock. But the Continentals were unable to come up with the game-tying goal, and the Red Dragons claimed their first win in the series since 1983.
Hamilton (2-5) held an 11-10 lead after D’Antonio scored with 11:10 remaining. Monteith tied the score just 53 seconds later, and Tulley put the Red Dragons ahead with a goal with 8:24 left. D’Antonio pulled the Continentals even at 12 on a free-position goal with 6:25 to play.
Oneonta led 6-5 at the break. The Red Dragons held an 8-5 lead after a goal by Tulley with 27:59 left, and another by Kissinger with 26:05 to play. But Schultz and Hoar added unassisted tallies, and Brodsky pulled Hamilton even with a goal with 22:12 left.
In the first half, D’Antonio put the Continentals ahead 4-2 with a goal with 14:24 left. Oneonta scored six of the next seven goals spanning halftime to take the 8-5 lead. Tulley sparked the run with a free-position goal with 11:51 left in the half. Kissinger scored all three of her goals during the spurt.
Hamilton played the final 49:38 without leading scorer Rachel Friedman ’13 after she received her second yellow card. The Continentals’ five losses have come by a total of seven goals.
Hamilton held a 30-27 shot advantage, and won 14 draw controls to Oneonta’s 13. The Red Dragons converted three of five free position shots, while Hamilton went 1-for-3. The Continentals lead the all-time series 26-3, and had won 23 games in a row against Oneonta.
Hamilton hosts nationally ranked No. 9 Amherst College for a NESCAC match on Saturday, March 31, at noon.
