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Lilly Truchon watches her pass as it avoids a Geneseo player's stick in a 2025 NCAA championship first round game
Photo: Josh McKee (https://www.mckeephotoarts.com/)
Lilly Truchon '26 passes the ball in the 2025 NCAA Championship first round against SUNY Geneseo on Nov. 12.
1
Geneseo GENESEO (20-2)
2
Winner Hamilton HAMILTON (12-5)
Geneseo GENESEO
(20-2)
1
Final
2
Hamilton HAMILTON
(12-5)
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 OT OT F
Geneseo GENESEO 0 1 0 0 0 0 1
Hamilton HAMILTON 0 1 0 0 0 1 2

Game Recap: Field Hockey | | Jim Taylor

No. 12 field hockey wins double OT thriller in NCAA championship 1st round

Higgins '26 notched the game-winner and moved the Continentals into the second round for the first time

CLINTON, N.Y. – Hamilton College's Sammy Higgins '26 scored a little less than two minutes into the second sudden-victory overtime period and lifted the Continentals to a 2-1 win against the SUNY Geneseo Knights in a 2025 NCAA Division III Field Hockey Championship first round game at Hamilton's Goodfriend Field on a cold and wet Wednesday, Nov. 12.
 

Season Update

  • The 12th-ranked Continentals (12-5 overall) were playing for the first time since they were edged 1-0 in a shootout at Bates College in a NESCAC championship quarterfinal on Nov. 1. Four of Hamilton's last five games have gone to overtime.
  • Nationally ranked No. 21 Geneseo (20-2) had won its previous 16 contests. The Knights, whose only other loss was way back on Sept. 13, were held under two goals for just the third time this season.
 

How It Happened

  • The Continentals finally converted on their 13th penalty corner of the night. Higgins inserted to Claire Tratnyek '26 at the top of the arc and she passed to Lilly Truchon '26 on her right. Truchon made a nice move to avoid a defender, took a few steps towards the end line and threaded a pass between two Geneseo players to Higgins near the left post. Higgins quickly settled the pass and tapped it past the sprawling goalie into the back of the cage, setting off a wild celebration with 8:05 left in the second overtime.
  • Becky Felker '26 gave Hamilton a 1-0 lead with 5:38 left in the second quarter after the teams combined to take one shot in the first. Kenna White '28 played a long ball off a restart into the Knights' half of the field. Eva Bell '29 batted it into the arc but her forward progress was stopped by a Geneseo defender. Felker took possession of the loose ball at the top of the arc, tapped the ball once to her left and hammered a backhand shot on the run inside the right post.
  • The Knights evened the score following their lone penalty corner of the evening with just 26 seconds remaining in the quarter. Shannon Cunningham blasted a shot from the top of the arc off one of the Continentals, and the ball caromed several feet away to the left. Sam Lewis one-timed the bouncing ball into the right side of the cage.
  • Geneseo's Kyra Giannelli had a great opportunity to notch the game-winner in the first overtime period when she received a pass behind the Hamilton defense. Giannelli entered the arc from the right wing and took a shot from about 10 yards away. Kelly Janssen '28 came way off her line to cut off Giannelli and made a sliding kick save with her right foot with 6:20 to go. It was the Knights' only shot after the third quarter.
 

Notes

  • The Continentals' top three point-producers all contributed. Felker recorded her team-leading ninth goal and also has a team-high 19 points.
  • Higgins scored a goal for the third time in the last four games and has six this season.
  • Truchon, who has 15 points, picked up her first assist this year and the second of her Hamilton career.
  • Janssen finished with two stops and has a 0.83 goals against average and .808 save percentage in 722 minutes.
  • Lewis registered her 10th goal this season and the 100th point of her Geneseo career.
  • Bridget Schafer made four of her seven saves in the first overtime period.
  • The Continentals enjoyed a 21-4 shot advantage, including 13-1 in the fourth quarter and two overtimes.
  • Hamilton posted its first NCAA championship win in its second national tournament appearance. The Continentals, who were hosting an NCAA game for the first time, also played in the championship in 2009.
  • Hamilton has won the last five meetings between the teams, but they hadn't played each other since 2016.
  • The Continentals' 12 victories are the most in a season under Head Coach Missy Mariano.
  • The Knights are 0-5 all-time in the NCAA championship.
  • The Empire 8 Athletic Conference tournament champions were second in the NCAA with 4.76 goals per game. The 20 wins this season are a program record.
 

Next Game

Hamilton plays NESCAC foe Wesleyan University (15-4) in an NCAA championship second round game at Babson College in Babson Park, Mass., on Saturday, Nov. 15 at 2 p.m.
 
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