Sam Walther '18 made 34 saves to earn her 10th shutout of the season and the 26th of her Hamilton College career in a 0-0 overtime draw against Connecticut College in NESCAC women's hockey action at Hamilton's Russell Sage Rink on Friday night.

Walther leads Division III in shutouts, is second in save percentage (.962) and third in goals against average (1.00). Thanks in large part to Walther, the Continentals are third in the nation in scoring defense at 1.09 goals allowed per game, and they are No. 1 in penalty kill at 96.3 percent.

Hamilton (12-7-4, 8-4-3 NESCAC) battled to its second straight overtime tie and third in the last four games. Conn. College (14-4-5, 9-2-4) outshot Hamilton 13-3 in the first period before Hamilton took the 23-16 edge through the second and third. The Camels had the 5-3 shot advantage in overtime.

In an action-packed second period, Hamilton hit the pipe on three different occasions. Michaela Giuttari '20 skated end-to-end and fired a wrist shot into Bailey Mertz (29 saves) 6:56 into the period. The rebound deflected to Stephanie DiPietro '18 in the slot for a backhander that Mertz denied. DiPietro followed the rebound into the corner and found Missy Segall '21 at the near faceoff dot for a one-timer on goal but Mertz came up with another save. DiPietro hurried to the front of the net, controlled the rebound and flipped the puck over the leg of Mertz, hitting the right post at 7:02.

Less than a minute later, Jenna Jewell '19 put a pair of shots on goal. Jewell took the puck away from a Camel in the slot and fired a quick shot on goal. Mertz deflected the puck with her glove and during the scrum in front of the net Jewell's second shot trickled over Mertz's leg and hit the far post.   

Segall had a breakaway attempt with 5:10 left in the second. She intercepted a pass in Hamilton's zone and outraced two Camel defenders for an open shot on Mertz. Segall's backhander hit off Mertz's left leg, grazed the right post and caromed into the boards.

Jewell had a chance to win the game for Hamilton with 20 seconds left in overtime when she stole the puck from Conn. College in the neutral zone. Jewell was one-on-one with Mertz but Mertz denied the wrist shot with her blocker.

The Camels' two best chances to score were in the first and third periods. Erin Dillon's used quick stick work to maneuver through two Hamilton defenders for an open shot on Walther, but Walther slid across the crease for the save 3:15 after the opening faceoff. With 12:21 left in the third period, Lily Connolly collected the puck in the corner and passed to Kyla Floresca skating into the slot. Floresca slid across to the far faceoff circle but Walther caught the puck on her blocker-side shoulder.

Hamilton and Conn. College complete the two-game weekend series on Saturday at 3 p.m. in the final game of the regular season.