LEWISTON, Maine -- After a scoreless 80 minutes Saturday at Campus Ave. Field, the third-seeded Bates field hockey team won a thrilling 1-0 NESCAC quarterfinal game over sixth-seeded Hamilton, prevailing 2-1 in a shootout to advance to the conference semifinals for the third straight season. 

Bates (13-3) heads to Medford, Mass. next Saturday to take on second-seeded Middlebury at 1:30 p.m. on the campus of Tufts University in a rematch of last year's NESCAC semifinal, which the Bobcats won 2-1 over the seven-time defending NCAA Division III champion Panthers.

The NESCAC tournament quarterfinal seems to be ripe for drama in recent seasons. Two years ago, Bates beat Bowdoin on Halloween in a double overtime thriller at Campus Ave. Field. Last year, the Bobcats won a sudden-death shootout at Wesleyan, and this year's game was the first shootout of 2025 for the Bobcats. It was old hat for Hamilton (11-5) as it was the fifth shootout of the season for the Continentals. Meanwhile, it marked only the fourth shootout for Bates in the 13 years that head coach Dani Kogut has led the program.

Nevertheless, the Bobcats played like veterans, as this was the third shootout they've competed in in their last four NESCAC tournament games. 

Sophomore goalkeeper Ava Donohue (Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y.) set the tone in the shootout right away. Hamilton's Sammy Higgins tried to back her down and Donohue went to the ground. Then Higgins moved to her right, but Donohue dove and incredibly was able to knock the ball away from Higgins with her stick as time expired, denying the first attempt of the shootout for either side.

But Hamilton goalkeeper Kelly Janssen, who played a terrific game, had the answer. She stopped the first shot by the Bobcats, leaving the best-of-five shootout at 0-0 after one attempt apiece. 

Hamilton's Morgan Clarke had a chance to get the Continentals on the board, but her shot hit the post. Then senior captain Brooke Moloney-Kolenberg (Winchester, Mass.) did her thing. She didn't try to do anything too complicated, simply moving to her right and slipping a shot past Janssen to put the Bobcats up 1-0. 

Donohue played the next shooter very aggressively, coming out of the cage to poke the ball away from Brighton McMahon and time ran out, marking a third straight unsuccessful attempt for the visitors.

Junior Elena Agosti (North Andover, Mass.) really put the pressure on Hamilton when she converted her attempt with an emphatic shot that found the lower-left side of the cage for a 2-0 Bates lead.

The Continentals responded thanks to Isabelle Nahon, who got them on the board to cut the Bates lead to 2-1. The Bobcats had a chance to clinch the victory, but Janssen was up to the task, giving Hamilton's Claire Tratnyek, their fifth and final shooter, a chance to tie things up.

Tratnyek made a move to her right but Donohue was ready for it and had little trouble poking the ball away, setting off a wild celebration as the Bobcats clinched the victory.

During regulation and the two overtime sessions, the Bobcats out-shot Hamilton by a count of 13-6, with eight shots on goal for Bates and only two for the Continentals. The Bobcats earned eight penalty corners to five for Hamilton. 

Janssen made five saves while Morgan Clarke added two defensive saves for the visitors and Nahon recorded one of her own. Donohue only had to make two saves before the shootout, both of them coming in the second quarter.

Saturday's contest is believed to be the first shootout ever held at Campus Ave. Field.