On Saturday, No. 5 field hockey (3-1, 2-0 NESCAC) took a 2-0 away win over the No. 11 Amherst Mammoths (3-1, 1-1 NESCAC). This victory followed a 1-2 overtime loss to the Babson Beavers (4-1) on Sept. 7.
The Ephs hoped to enter the match undeterred by the Babson loss. “A big part of the game against Amherst was forgetting about the loss and looking ahead rather than dwelling on the past,” Pilar Torres ’26 said.
This positive outlook was evident in a fiery performance by Claire Colvin ’27 on Saturday. She scored just four minutes and 27 seconds into the first quarter to give the Ephs the lead.
“It was such a mess in the circle,” Colvin said of the chaotic scramble for her goal. “It was a breakaway carried in by Kiki [Higgins ’26] – there were a lot of deflections going on. The ball ended up going super high in the air, but I ended up tapping it in somehow.”
Colvin viewed her goal as a reflection of the Ephs’ adaptability and cohesion. “It was a mess, but I think it speaks to that moment where we’re all there supporting each other, pushing up, putting the pressure on Amherst and not relenting,” Colvin said. “It wasn’t just one of us. It wasn’t just Kiki, or Pilar, or me, or anyone up there. It was all of us touching the ball and working together. And that’s the style of Williams field hockey.”
The Ephs’ energy, however, started to dwindle during the second quarter. “We had a lull in the second quarter, we were kind of tired … but then during half-time [Head Coach] Alix Barrale talked to us and pumped us up again, reminding us that it’s supposed to be fun,” Katie Sigrist ’29 said.
Barrale’s efforts to reignite the Ephs’ spirits were successful. Shortly after their halftime discussion, Torres scored another goal for the Ephs, with assistance from Sigrist.
Like Colvin’s goal, Torres’ shot was unusual. “It was off of a corner, and it was a totally atypical corner situation because [the Mammoths] normally have four defenders running out, but they kept going in early, so they got defenders bumped out of the corner,” Sigrist said. “It was only two girls, so I was like, ‘Oh my god, you have to score this.’ So Kiki caught the ball, passed it to me and I shot it, but somehow, the defender got her stick in the way, and it went way up [in the air] and Pilar baseball-batted it in.”
The Ephs didn’t stop there. In the last 30 seconds, goaltender Ellie Smith ’28 pulled off a swift and acrobatic save to prevent the Mammoths from bringing the score to 2-1. “Ellie literally dropped down into a split and saved the ball with the tip of her foot,” Higgins said. “It was insane.”
This victory followed a streak-breaking loss to Babson. According to Torres, the team’s loss against the Beavers helped ease the pressure of the Amherst game over the weekend. “What was huge for us was feeling a little bit defeated,” she said. “Last season we started off winning every single game. And that built up pressure because we were like, ‘When are we gonna lose?’ I think that getting that out of the way helped us because it’s like, ‘Okay, we’ve already lost, we’ve already got scored on. It’s going to be okay.’”
Other Ephs echoed Torres’ sentiment. “A lot of people are saying that [the loss to Babson] was the best thing that could’ve ever happened to us because now we’re not daunted by [the worry that] every game our undefeated streak is at risk of being broken,” Colvin said. “Now we’re humble and not afraid of letting a few goals in. We’re able to overcome adversity.”
The Ephs’ game against the Mammoths was notably different from their game against the Beavers. “We play best when we’re having fun and when we’re working together and connecting on the field,” Colvin said. “We didn’t really have that [at Babson]. It was tough, and it was really rainy and we were tired.”
“I think we started playing very individually on Sunday, whereas against Amherst, it was very apparent that we were one team,” she continued. “Yes, there were 11 girls on the field, and people on the sidelines, but we were so loud on the sideline. So much cheering. And that really converted into a lot of energy on the field.”
The Ephs plan to carry this momentum into their next game against Smith College (3-2) at home on Wednesday, Sept. 17.
