Amherst College scored the first five goals and went on to a 15-5 win against the Hamilton College Continentals in a 2016 NESCAC Women's Lacrosse Championship quarterfinal at Amherst's Gooding Field on Saturday afternoon.

Hamilton (10-6 overall) entered the game ranked 12th in the Division III Top 20 coaches poll and seeded sixth for the championship. The Continentals tied for sixth place in the conference standings with a record of 5-5 during the regular season.

No. 8 Amherst (12-3) tied for third place in the NESCAC standings and is the No. 3 seed for this event. Amherst also defeated Hamilton 10-6 back on March 26 in Clinton. Amherst moves on to the conference championship semifinals at top-seeded Trinity College where they will play Middlebury College on Saturday, May 7.

The Continentals were making their fourth appearance in the championship quarterfinals in the program's fifth year in the conference for lacrosse. Hamilton pulled within four goals three times, including 8-4 with 20:13 left in the second half, but didn't get any closer after Amherst's early five-goal run.

Margaret Gabriel '16 paced the Continentals' offense with two goals. Gabriel has 76 goals and 115 points for her Hamilton career. Morgan Fletcher '17 chipped in a goal and an assist, and Caroline McCarthy '16 was credited with a pair of helpers. McCarthy is second in the conference with 28 assists. Kara Pooley '19 and Casey File '17 scored one goal apiece.

Jackie Cuddy '18 scooped up five ground balls and caused two turnovers for the Continentals. Hannah Withiam '16 picked up four ground balls and won three draw controls, and Darby Philbrick '18 contributed three ground balls and a pair of caused turnovers. Pooley recorded three ground balls and three draw controls. Hannah Rubin '17 and Hannah Burrall '19 combined to make five saves.

Rachel Passarelli led all players with four goals and two assists for Amherst. Mia Haughton scored three goals and Kelly Karczewski finished with two goals and one helper. Claire Cagnassola and Coco Kusiak tallied two goals apiece. Rowena Schenck won a game-high four draw controls and Christy Forrest came up big in goal with 14 saves and five ground balls. Amherst leads the conference in fewest goals allowed with 93.

Hamilton finished with an advantage over Amherst everywhere except on the scoreboard. The Continentals took more shots (24-22), won more draws (13-9), picked up more ground balls (20-18) and committed 12 turnovers to Amherst's 15. Hamilton helped force Amherst into eight unsuccessful clears out of 22 attempts.

One place Amherst owned an advantage was on free-position attempts where they scored on all five shots. The Continentals scored one goal on seven free-position shots. Hamilton was also whistled for five yellow cards.

Passarelli almost single-handedly gave Amherst its 5-0 lead as she scored three times and added an assist in the opening run. Julia Crerend scored the first goal 2:01 into the first half. Passarelli added the next two, including the third goal during the Continentals' third yellow card just 9:23 into the first half.

Passarelli found Kusiak for the fourth goal with 8:43 left and Passarelli made it 5-0 just 44 seconds later on a free-position goal. Pooley broke the ice for Hamilton with 7:14 remaining on a feed from McCarthy. Amherst led 7-2 at the break.

File cut the Continentals' deficit to four goals on a free-position shot with 25:43 to go. After a free-position goal by Haughton, Fletcher made it 8-4 with 20:13 left. Amherst scored the next six goals and clinched the program's 18th NESCAC postseason victory.