Three members of the Hamilton College women’s hockey team have been named to the 2016 NESCAC All-Conference Team. Forward Hannah Bartlett ’16 (Marshfield, Mass. /St. Mark’s School), defender Sara Taffe ’17 (Maple Grove, Minn. /Benilde-St. Margaret’s School) and goaltender Sam Walther ’18 (Gambrills, Md. /The Gunnery [Conn.]) each earned second-team honors. The Continentals’ three all-NESCAC selections were a school record and no other team had more players receive all-conference recognition.
Bartlett led Hamilton with 23 points and 16 goals and her seven assists ranked second on the team. She’s third in the NESCAC in goals and tied for fourth in scoring. Bartlett finished her career with 53 points (29 goals, 24 assists) in 99 games.
Taffe led a defense that is 14th in Division III with 1.72 goals allowed per game. She was the Continentals’ highest-scoring blue liner, finishing with nine points on four goals and five assists. She scored the game-winning goal in Hamilton’s 5-3 win over SUNY Potsdam and assisted on the game winner as the Continentals rallied to beat Colby 6-4. She heads into her senior season with 31 points (9-22=31) in 70 career games.
Walther started all but one game and broke her own year-old school records with a .941 save percentage and a goals-against average of 1.54. She collected a Hamilton single-season record five shutouts and raised her career total to eight, breaking another school mark. Walther ranks among the national leaders in shutouts (tied for 10th), save percentage (14th) and goals-against (18th). In 43 games over her two-year career she’s compiled a 1.64 GAA and a save percentage of .939.
The Continentals posted a record of 11-10-4 this season, matching the program’s second-highest win total since 2003. They made their 14th postseason appearance in the last 15 years, earning the sixth seed in the NESCAC Championship.
