The Hamilton College field hockey team lost 5-2 to Middlebury in the semifinal round of the NESCAC Championship Saturday in a game played at Tufts. The Continentals, ranked 11th nationally, are 12-5 on the season; fourth-ranked Middlebury moves on to Sunday's NESCAC final.

The Panthers scored twice in the first half and sealed the win with a pair of goals in the final six minutes of regulation. They'll face the host Jumbos – the top seed in the tournament – who routed Williams 5-0 in Saturday's first semifinal.

Eva Rosencrans '17 had a hand in both Hamilton goals, starting with an assist early in the second half as the Continentals pulled to within 2-1. Just under four minutes into the period, she delivered a pass to Michaela Giuttari '20 in front of the cage that Giuttari deflected past Middlebury goaltender Emily Miller. About two minutes later Giuttari got off another shot that a diving Miller was able to keep out of the goal. 

Margaret Revera '18 scored her fourth goal of the season after a nice pass ahead from Rosencrans to close out the scoring with 3:20 left to play.

The Panthers outshot Hamilton 28-13.  Julia Booth '19 made a season-best 11 saves for the Continentals and Liz Wagenbach '18 was credited with two defensive stops. Miller stopped three shots.

Giuttari's goal was her 14th of 2016 – matching Hamilton's fourth-highest single-season total. She's the NESCAC's leading scorer among first years.

Rosencrans' two assists raised her career total to 117 points (51 goals, 17 assists). Hamilton's record-holder with 51 goals, she finished second on the program's all-time scoring list. 

Annie Leonard and Audrey Quirk both scored a pair of goals for the Panthers. Leonard opened the scoring 12:01 into the game, sending a shot into the cage that bounced off Booth's pads following a Middlebury penalty corner. She started the late scoring burst by redirecting a Molly Freeman shot at the 64:25 mark.

Quirk scored both her goals off second-half penalty corners. Both times she inserted the corner to a teammate (first Lauren Schweppe, 8:06 into the period; then Emma Johns with 4:30 remaining) then took the return pass and converted it for a goal.

Grace Jennings scored with 2:31 left before halftime to give the Panthers a 2-0 lead. The Continentals were awarded a penalty corner with no time left in the half, but Middlebury's Caroline Knapp made a defensive save to preserve the Panthers' two-goal lead.

Hamilton's 12 wins this season were one short of the school record.