Field hockey lived up to its No. 1 seed in today’s NESCAC quarterfinal, beating Hamilton 6-0 in the rain on Ryan Field. The Polar Bears will host the lowest remaining seed next Saturday in the semifinals.
Rachel Kennedy ’16 scored a goal in the first minute, setting the tone for the afternoon. She added another in the ninth minute when Adrienne O’Donnell ’15 took the ball down the right sideline and laid the ball off for Kennedy, who spun around and slid a tricky shot past Hamilton’s goalie.
With 23 minutes left in the first half, O’Donnell put the Polar Bears up 3-0, bringing the ball into the circle through the middle, cutting right to get a better angle, and firing the ball into the net.
The Polar Bears, winning by three goals less than 15 minutes into the game, did not let up on attack. Four minutes later, Mettler Growney ’17 took a shot from the top of the circle that deflected to Kimmy Ganong ’17, who reacted quickly and scored from a tight angle.
The Continentals had rarely threatened to score in the first half, but pressured the Bowdoin goal in the first minute of the second, forcing goalie Hannah Gartner ’15 to make a diving save.
O’Donnell scored her second goal of the game with about 27:30 left in the half, putting Bowdoin up 5-0. Senior Emily Simonton assisted the goal.
Hamilton responded well, earning a penalty corner just a minute later. Off the corner, the Continentals managed to put a shot past Gartner, but a Bowdoin defender cleared the ball off the goal line to preserve Bowdoin’s five-goal lead.
With about 12 minutes remaining, junior Liz Znamierowski took the ball down the right side to the Continental’s end line and crossed to captain Pam Herter ’15, who tapped in the final goal of the afternoon from close range.
The Polar Bears beat Hamilton by the same 6-0 score on October 11 in Clinton, N.Y.