Amherst College's Sara Culhane '17 scored with 1:30 left in the first sudden-victory overtime period and lifted the nationally ranked No. 12 Lord Jeffs to a 5-4 NESCAC win against the Hamilton College Continentals at Hamilton's Campus Road Athletic Complex on Saturday.
Box Score
Culhane enjoyed a career day for Amherst (7-3, 3-3 NESCAC) with four goals and an assist. Katie Paolano '16 added the other goal and Emily Horwitz '17 made six saves, including four in overtime.
Merisa Dion '17 led the Continentals with two goals and Margaret Revera '18 chipped in one goal and two assists. Casey Brown '16 had the other goal and Aubrey Coon '16 was credited with a pair of assists. Julia Booth '19, who leads the NESCAC with 10.22 saves per game, stopped 13 shots.
Elizabeth Turnbull '18 picked up the assist on the game-winning goal. Turnbull passed ahead to Culhane near the penalty stroke dot and she tipped the ball past Booth, who had come out of the cage to try and stop the play. Culhane is second in the conference with 11 goals.
Hamilton (6-4, 3-4) sent the game to overtime on Dion's fourth goal this year with just 10 seconds left in regulation following a penalty corner. Dion inserted the ball on the corner to Coon, who blasted a shot that went towards the left post. Dion had moved to the left post and she redirected the ball into the cage.
The Continentals grabbed a 2-0 lead late in the first half. Revera scored the first goal on a one-timer from the top-center of the circle with 8:09 to go. She then had the assist on the second goal with 4:22 remaining. Revera collected a loose ball in the circle and passed to Dion, who scored from near the penalty stroke dot.
Paolano pulled the Jeffs to within a goal with 2:39 left before the half. The ball was played into the circle and then tipped by Culhane to Paolano, who scored her sixth goal on a one-timer that bounced past Booth to her right.
Brown restored Hamilton's two-goal cushion four minutes after the break when she took a bouncing pass from Revera and one-timed it from the center of the circle into the cage for her sixth goal and 14th point.
Culhane took over at that point. Her first goal came just 39 seconds after Brown scored. Caroline Feeley '18 passed to Culhane, who scored on a sweeping one-timer as she was falling down near the penalty stroke dot.
Culhane tied the score at 3-3 with 15:32 to go with some help from Annika Nygren '16. Nygren carried the ball into the circle on a breakaway and drew Booth out of the cage. Nygren neatly passed the ball to Culhane at the last moment and Culhane shot the ball into an open cage from point-blank range.
Amherst took the lead for the first time with 9:06 remaining on Culhane's third goal of the day -- an unassisted tally. The goal came after a Jeffs' penalty corner and after Culhane's first shot was stopped by Booth.
Amherst held a 26-18 shot advantage, and the Jeffs were awarded 11 penalty corners to eight for the Continentals. The teams took seven shots apiece in overtime alone.
All four of Hamilton's losses have come against nationally ranked opponents. Amherst has won four straight games in the series against the Continentals.
Hamilton travels to SUNY Oneonta for a non-conference game on Thursday, Oct. 15, at 4 p.m. The Jeffs head to Colby College for a NESCAC contest next Saturday at noon.
