WATERVILLE, Maine -- Defending NCAA Division III champion Hamilton College led 5-0 early in the second half and then held off a Williams College rally to edge the Ephs 8-7 in an NCAA women's lacrosse tournament regional semifinal game at Colby College's Bill Alfond Field on May 9.

Nationally ranked No. 5 Hamilton (15-2 overall) won its fourth straight game and fifth in a row in the NCAA tournament. The Continentals take on No. 9 Middlebury College in a regional final at Colby on Sunday, May 10, at 1:00 p.m. Middlebury (11-5) defeated host Colby 9-3 earlier Saturday. Hamilton last played the Panthers in a 2008 NCAA regional final at home, where the Continentals outlasted Middlebury 9-7 to advance to the national semifinals.

Audrey Nebergall led Hamilton's offense with three goals. Sarah Bray scored two goals and Kaillie Briscoe chipped in one goal and two assists. Kate Fowler made four saves in each half to finish with a total of eight.

Britt Spackman paced the Williams offense with two goals and an assist. Alice Nelson added two goals and Julia Schreiber stopped 11 shots.

The teams' defenses controlled the action for the first 18 minutes as neither squad scored a goal. Nebergall finally broke the ice with 11:59 left when she scored on a free-position shot. Briscoe found Hilary Saverin for another goal 46 seconds later and Nebergall added her second free-position goal with 6:33 remaining. The Continentals took that 3-0 advantage into the break.

Briscoe made the score 4-0 with an unassisted goal 32 seconds into the second half. Bray made it five straight Hamilton goals on a feed from Liz Rave with 26:45 left.

The 12th-ranked Ephs (13-7) slipped a shot past Fowler for the first time 27 seconds later when Whitney Thayer converted on a free-position shot. Four of Williams' seven goals came on free-position shots.

After Kate Marek restored the Continentals' five-goal lead with an unassisted tally, the Ephs notched three straight to pull within 6-4 with 18:02 remaining. Bray scored on Briscoe's second assist 36 seconds later to make the score 7-4. Neither team found the back of the net for another 7:10 when Spackman recorded her first goal to cut the Williams deficit to two.

Nebergall scored the eventual game-winner on an assist from Marek to make it 8-5 with 9:28 left. The Ephs responded with goals by Spackman and finally Julia Nawrocki, who made it a one-goal game on a free-position shot with 5:47 remaining. Williams could not complete the comeback.

This game marked the second meeting all-time between Hamilton and Williams. The Ephs won 22-13 in 1996. Continentals' head coach Patty Kloidt is now 6-1 in NCAA tournament games at Hamilton.

2009-05-09