With a spot in the league title game on the line and playing on home ice, the Amherst College women’s hockey team was staring another NESCAC title square in the face on Friday.

But the top-seeded Mammoths had their party spoiled by No. 4 Hamilton.

The Continentals scored twice in the first period to set the tone and held off a late third-period flurry from Amherst to snag a 2-1 victory in the NESCAC semifinals at Orr Rink in Amherst.

Hamilton, which lost to Amherst 5-0 in last year’s NESCAC final, will play either Middlebury or Colby in the title game on Saturday at 4 p.m. in Amherst. It’s just the second time in program history that the Continentals will play for a league title.

Trailing 2-0 late in the third period, Amherst finally broke through with a scrum in front of the Hamilton net with 2:28 remaining. Rylee Glennon slipped the puck home off a feed from Alyssa Xu to cut the deficit to 2-1.

With goalie Natalie Stott (14 saves) pulled, Amherst was unable to find the equalizer over the final two minutes. Hamilton goalie Mac Donovan made 34 stops to lock down the Mammoths offense.

Hamilton’s Sami Quackenbush set the tone early for the visitors, scoring a goal through traffic with 15:39 remaining in the first period. Just 1:58 later, Quackenbush put another shot through that was tipped home by Lilly Truchon, giving the No. 4 seeds a 2-0 advantage before much of the dust had settled.

Amherst (21-3-2) will now await the NCAA Division 3 Selec tion Show on Sunday to find out if   it has been selected for an at-large bid into the tournament field.

NOTES: Amherst’s Glennon and Stott were named First Team All-NESCAC this week, while Maeve Reynolds and Emily Hohmann earned Second Team honors.

Amherst head coach Jeff Matthews was named the NESCAC Coach of the Year for the first time in his career.

Women’s basketball

NCAA Div. 3 first round

Smith 61, Maine Maritime 46 — It wasn’t easy, but the Pioneers are into the Round of 32.

The Pioneers used their defense and a huge edge in rebounding to hold off a push from Maine Maritime in the opening round of the NCAA Division 3 Tournament before a sold-out crowd at Ainsworth Gymnasium in Northampton on Friday night.

Smith (25-3) will play Messiah in the Round of 32 on Saturday night back at Ainsworth with a spot in the Sweet 16 on the line (7 p.m.). Messiah got past Shenandoah, 58-57, in the other first round game played in Northampton on Friday.

Smith held Maine Maritime to just 35 percent shooting and held a 42-27 edge on the boards during Friday’s win. The visitors shot just 2-for-12 from 3-point range.

Ally Yamada led three Pioneers in double figures with 17 points to go with five assists and five rebounds. Hannah Martin added 13 points and Sofia Rosa tossed in 10 points and six boards. Jessie Ruffner (eight points, nine rebounds) and Jane Loo (six points, nine rebounds) also had big nights for Smith.