May 18, 2008

by Jeff Gilbert, Special to Lacrosse Magazine Online

SALEM, Va. - Sunday was rainy and unusually cool for this time of May in the Blue Ridge mountains. And with the pressure of playing for a national championship, it didn't seem like the kind of day that the Hamilton College women's lacrosse team would play its best game.

So much for forecasts.

The Continentals controlled defending champion Franklin & Marshall with physical defense and a quick-strike and penetrating offense for a 13-6 victory at Roanoke College and the program's first NCAA Division III national championship.

Hamilton senior Nicole Tetreault said the players discussed Sunday morning that they had yet to play a game with everybody playing to their potential.

"Coming out of the game today, that's what everybody was saying was that this was the game that happened," Tetreault said. "That was just amazing to have it all come to an end like this."

The Continentals (21-1) knew from experience what it would take to win the championship. Their only loss was to F&M (19-2) in March when the Diplomats scored with three seconds left for a 14-13 come-from-behind victory in Florida.

For the rest of the season, the Continentals had a cheer in their huddles when their lead was small in the second half: "F&M's not happening again."

"The big lesson we learned after that game is how to close out games," Tetreault said.

Hamilton tried to close out the Diplomats in the first half. A 2-2 tie became an 8-2 halftime lead in the last 11:38 of the first half. Freshman Sarah Bray scored three of her career-high five goals and had an assist in Hamilton's run.

"The whole first half we were just so out of sync," said F&M coach Anne Phillips.

F&M started the second half strong and scored twice in 65 seconds to cut its deficit to 8-4 with 22:13 to play.

"We were just trying to use the fire that we had in that game," F&M's Jen Pritchard said of the previous win over Hamilton. "At halftime we thought we could get it back. It seemed like we were never actually mentally down. Our bodies just weren't with our heads or something."

A minute later the Continentals must have repeated their cheer because F&M didn't come close to happening again. Anne Graveley, another freshman, scored twice within two minutes and the lead was back to six.

"We'd have a moment, but what we needed were a lot of moments so that we could gain momentum," said Carli McLaughlin, F&M's lone senior. "They played a great game, so we really needed to take advantage of every possession."

Every possession meant a lot to Hamilton, which outshot F&M 25-16. The Continentals took advantage of the more aggressive nature of tournament play and were not slowed by two yellow cards or by committing 10 more fouls (29 to 19) than F&M.

"We didn't have a game plan to go out and intimidate or anything like that," said Kaillie Briscoe, Hamilton's leading scorer. "It's supposed to be noncontact , but at this level it's a very aggressive game and the refs tend to let you play a little bit. There's a lot more bumping than what happens in our league."

F&M had championship game experience, but didn't appear ready for the aggressive way Hamilton attacked the goal and defended the other one.

"We can only control what we do," Phillips said. "We can't control how the game is played. That's someone else's job. It was a physical game. I don't think it was a dirty game. We played hard. We just didn't play well."

Hamilton played more than well enough, holding the Diplomats nine goals below their average and scoring almost seven more than the Diplomats typically allow.

"It feels like your season never really ends if you go out like this," Tetreault said.