Clinton, N.Y. - The Hamilton College Continentals and and the visiting Trinity College Bantams skated to a 1-1 tie in a New England Small College Athletic Conference women's ice hockey game at Russell Sage Rink this afternoon.  Trinity, 4-0-1 in its last five games, moves to 7-4-4 overall and 2-3-3 in the NESCAC, while the Continentals are 9-4-1 overall and 4-3-1 in the league.  Hamitlon snapped an eight-game losing streak against the Bantams, who opened the two-game series in Upstate New York with 1-0 win in overtime last evening.

Nikki Haskins scored an unassisted goal for the Continentals, and Becca Hazlett made 27 saves.  Senior captain forward Hillary McNamara (Milton, Mass.) notched the goal for the Bantams and senior captain defender Britney Ryan (Highlands Ranch, Colo.) was credited with her ninth assist of the winter. Junior netminder Alexa Pujol (New Canaan, Conn.) made 35 stops one day after she turned away all 38 shots she faced in last night's contest.

The first period ended in a scoreless tie. With 11 minutes left in the opening frame, Trinity broke free for a 2-on-1, but Hazlett came up with the stop. The Continentals went on their second power play of the afternoon soon afterwards, and started a two-skater advantage at the 11:39 mark that lasted for 26 seconds, but didn't register a shot on goal. Hamilton held a 10-5 shot advantage after 20 minutes. 

Hamilton racked up eight shots in the first 12 minutes before the Bantams registered their first. With 6:17 left in the period, Trinity got on the board on a goal by McNamara. Ryan fired the initial shot from above the right faceoff circle and McNamara poked in the rebound for her second goal this season.  Just 2:08 later, Haskins notched Hamilton's first goal of the weekend and her sixth this season, smacking a slapshot from the right face-off circle on a rush into the offensive zone. Pujol bobbled the puck and it scooted away from her into the slot. Haskins followed her shot and swept it over the sprawling goalie. The goal snapped Pujol's scoreless streak of 140 consecutive minutes.  Hamilton nearly took the lead with a little over a minute to go in the period when Jill Tokarczyk took a shot from just outside the crease but Pujol turned it away. The Continentals got another shot on the rebound, but were denied again. Moments later, Trinity rookie forward Shannon Farrell (Kennebunk, Maine) was on a breakaway with only the goalie to beat, but Hazlett came up with the save to preserve the 1-1 tie after two periods. Hamilton held a 14-6 shot advantage in the period.

Both teams had great scoring opportunities in the opening half of the third period. Trinity rookie forward Brooke Heron (South Salem, N.Y.) hit the left post at 3:45 and Casey Brown  was stopped by Pujol on a breakaway about a minute later. Stephanie Lang hit the post with 12:13 left and Haskins was denied on a 2-on-1 four minutes later.  The teams went to overtime for the second straight day. In the 4-on-4 extra period, Trinity's best chance came less than two minutes in when freshman blueliner Shelby Labe (Pine Brook, N.J.) had an open look from the point, but Hazlett made the save. Haskins had another open look with 1:50 left, but was turned away by Pujol. Hazlett made six saves and Pujol stopped four shots in the 5-minute overtime.  Hamilton outshot Trinity 36-28. The Continentals went 0-for-5 in this game and 0-for-8 for the weekend on the power play, while the Bantams were 0-for-3 with the extra skater today.

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