Bowdoin College's Emma Stevens scored three goals and the nationally ranked No. 9 Polar Bears snuck past the 14th-ranked Hamilton College Continentals 3-2 in NESCAC field hockey action at Hamilton's Goodfriend Field on Saturday afternoon.

Hamilton's three setbacks have come against teams ranked in the top 10. The Continentals (10-3, 6-3 NESCAC) are fifth in the conference standings with one NESCAC game remaining, while all other NESCAC foes have at least two more conference games left to play. The top four teams host a NESCAC championship quarterfinal on Saturday, Oct. 27.

The Polar Bears (10-2, 5-2) won their second straight after falling 2-1 to No. 15 Trinity last weekend. Bowdoin is tied for third place with Williams and has three conference games remaining.

All the scoring happened in an exciting first half. Bowdoin got on the scoreboard first at 1:06 and the Polar Bears never surrendered the lead. Manveer Sandhu crossed the ball from the right side and Stevens slapped a shot past Hamilton's Julia Booth '19 (nine saves).

Hamilton responded during a penalty corner in the ninth minute to even the score. Tatiana Bradley '19 inserted the ball in from the left side to Cat Donahue '21. Donahue passed to Michaela Giuttari '20 for a shot on goal and Bradley redirected the ball to the opposite corner of the cage.

Stevens gave the lead back to Bowdoin with help from Abby Bashaw in the 12th minute, and her game-winner came with 8:29 remaining in the first half when Elizabeth Growney golfed a shot towards the goal and Stevens tipped the ball into the upper-left corner of the cage. Stevens leads the NESCAC with 18 goals and 39 points.

Giuttari scored her 16th goal of the season and the 48th of her Hamilton career at 17:14 to even the score at 2-2. Lizzie Clarke '20 took the restart for the Continentals on the right sideline and sent a centering pass to Giuttari at the 25-yard line. Giuttari dribbled around two defenders and flipped the ball over a sliding Maddie Ferrucci (three saves).

Bowdoin held a 15-6 shot advantage, including a 7-2 edge in the second half, but Hamilton's Booth denied all six shots that travelled her way to keep the visitors scoreless in the final 35 minutes.

Following a failed corner attempt by Bowdoin, Hamilton pulled Booth with 50 seconds remaining to gain an extra attacker.

The Polar Bears had a chance to add an empty-net goal, but Sarah Kane '19 made a great defensive stop and transitioned the ball up the field for the Continentals that resulted in a penalty corner with no time left on the clock. Bradley sent the ball in from the left side and Keeley Duran '22 golfed in a shot, but the ball was whisked away by the Bowdoin defense to end the game.  

Hamilton travels to Colby College for its final NESCAC game of the regular season on Saturday, Oct. 20 at noon.