The Hamilton College field hockey team advanced to the semifinal round of the NESCAC Championship, knocking off visiting Amherst 1-0 in Saturday's quarterfinal at Goodfriend Field.

With the win, the third-seeded Continentals will play fourth-seeded Middlebury (who beat Bowdoin 2-0 in quarterfinal action) in one semifinal Saturday, Nov. 5 at top-seeded Tufts. The host Jumbos will play seventh-seeded Williams in the other semifinal; the two semifinal winners will meet in Sunday's final with the NESCAC's automatic bid to the NCAA playoffs at stake.

Michaela Giuttari '20 scored the game's only goal and the Continental defense held Amherst – who entered the game ranked 18th nationally in scoring – scoreless for just the second time this season as Hamilton won its first NESCAC playoff game in four tries.

Both teams were among the seven NESCAC teams ranked in the latest national coaches poll with Amherst ninth and the Continentals 15th.

Giuttari's goal, her 13th of the season, came 14:30 into the game and was set up by Eva Rosencrans '17. Rosencrans brought the ball down the left side before sending a pass to Margaret Revera '18. Revera drove to the left post then fed Giuttari, who was open in the middle of the circle.

Hamilton limited Amherst, who'd scored a NESCAC-best 55 goals on the season, to just eight shots – only two in the first half. The visitors outshot the Continentals 6-5 in  the second period, with Hamilton goaltender Julia Booth'19 stopping all five shots she faced.

Booth made her best save six minutes into the second half, coming out of the cage at the near post to make a sliding stop of a shot by Laura Schwartzman. In the waning seconds of regulation, she stuffed Shannon Tierney with a kick save to seal the win.

Kendall Cody nearly picked up the tying goal twice in the second period, hitting the post 6:14 in and sending a high shot at the net 2:21 later that Booth reached up to knock away.

The Continentals have now posted five wins this season over top-20 teams, beating third-ranked Middlebury, 19th-ranked Williams and second-ranked Bowdoin in addition to their two wins over Amherst (who was ranked 10th when the Continentals posted a 4-3 regular-season win).

Booth made six saves to record her fourth shutout of the season. Amherst's Emily Horwitz was credited with seven saves.