All Bantam Successes the Weekend of Friday 10/28

Lily Ives ’23

Sports Editor

The weekend building up to Halloween can best be described as spooktastic for Bantam teams with multiple hard-fought conference wins.

The fierce play kicked off on Friday, October 29th on Ogrodnik Court in Oosting Gymnasium here in Hartford, Connecticut, as the Trinity Volleyball team took on NESCAC foe, the Hamilton College Continentals. The contest was a rollercoaster ride filled with of waves of momentum, as the Bantams nearly fell to the Continentals twice, coming back from large deficits in the fourth and fifth sets. Hamilton struck first and set the pace of the match, winning the first set 25-18; however, Trinity answered in the second set, coming out on top 25-23. Each time either the Trinity or Hamilton squads faced a set loss, they responded with an intense effort and a win, as Hamilton came out victorious in the third set, flipping the score from the second, 25-23 in favor of the Continentals. In the fourth stanza, the Bantams found themselves in a dangerous spot, down 16-9, with the contest on the line. The Bantams showcased their grit, as they closed the gap and claimed the fourth set with a score of 25-18. The back-and-forth trend broke rhythm in the fifth and final set, and that was a very good thing for the determined Bantams. The deciding fifth set followed the model of set four as the Continentals took the early lead and found themselves ahead with a 13-9 lead. The Bantams were able to dig deep, and ended up coming out on top, winning the set 18-16, giving the contest a final score of 3-2, in favor of the Bantams.

Sophomore Eva Lekovic lead the offense for the Bantams, showcasing an impressive 19 kills, while sophomore Ava Boloyan recorded 13, junior Lola Craig added 7, and senior Molly Bernstein also recorded 6 kills. It is no wonder that Bernstein earned ‘Bantam of the Week’ honors, as on top of her 6 kills, she was a brick wall, tallying 9 blocks for the Bantam defense. This win moved the Bantams up to 4-5 in NESCAC play and earned them a postseason bid for the first time since 2018. Roll Bants!

Postseason action began on Saturday, October 29th, for both the Trinity field hockey and women’s soccer squads. The day started out on Robin L. Sheppard Field in Hartford, Connecticut, as the number three ranked Bantam field hockey team took on the number six ranked Bowdoin College Polar Bears. The Bantams came out fired up, looking to avenge their 1-0 loss to the Polar Bears from earlier this season. After a scoreless first quarter filled with back-and-forth action, the Bantams struck first and finally put themselves on the board 28 minutes into action, off a goal from sophomore Ashely Zigler, assisted by junior Jackie Frank. Fans could feel the sense of urgency and desperation coming from the Polar Bears as they pressed play, but the score remained 1-0 in favor of the Bantams well into the fourth quarter, until the Bantams secured a key insurance goal with just nine minutes remaining in the contest. The final goal of the game came from junior Katrina Winfield, off an assist from senior captain Elle Fair, making the final score of the game 2-0 in favor of the Bantams. Safe to say, the Trinity field hockey squad proved to the Polar Bears that their early season loss was more of a fluke than a true indicator of which team was stronger, and the Bantams drove home that point in their two-goal shutout win. Trinity moves forward into the NESCAC semifinals and looks to avenge yet another loss on November 5th in Middlebury, Vermont, as they take on number two ranked Tufts University.

The Trinity women’s soccer team also began postseason action on Saturday, October 29th, as they shipped back up to Middlebury, Vermont, to take on the number four ranked Middlebury College Panthers. The Bantams also looked to avenge a mid-season loss as they took to the pitch against the Panthers, to turn the tables on a game they lost just two weeks prior by a one-goal deficit on the 15th of October. The Bantams opened, scoring 33 minutes into the first half when senior Mia Fusco netted a goal, assisted by fellow senior Hannah Storuzuk. Trinity struck again and bumped the score up to 2-0 in the 57th minute of the game as junior Dot Tilden scored off an assist from junior captain Cassie Lee. Though the Panthers were successful in erasing the zero on the board, scoring with less than 12 minutes left in the contest, it would not be enough to catch up to the Bants. The game ended with a score of 2-1 in favor of the Bantams, and much like what the Trinity field hockey team did up in Vermont just weeks ago, proved the power and skill of their squad to the Panthers, making up for their earlier loss to them. The Bantam soccer squad will travel to Amherst College on Saturday, November 5th, to take on the number 6 ranked Wesleyan College Cardinals, as they look to beat them once again in the NESCAC semifinals.

The Bantam football squad matched up against the Bowdoin College Polar Bears on Saturday, October 29th, for a sunny competition in Hartford, Connecticut. After an uncharacteristic scoreless first quarter for the Trinity football team, the Bants regained their usual form in the second quarter, scoring a touchdown under 12 minutes in with a three-yard touchdown run by junior running back Colin McCabe. Though Bowdoin responded with a 23-yard field goal to put themselves on the board, that would be the last time that the Polar Bears would score for the rest of the game. Just a minute after Bowdoin kicked in those three points, graduate student Devante Reid took a pass from senior quarterback Spencer Fetter into the endzone, to bump the score up to 14-3, in favor of the Bantams. Reid went on to score yet another touchdown just over two minutes later, off another pass from Fetter. In the third quarter, Fetter found graduate student Thomas Walsh in the endzone on a 21-yard pass, and then a few minutes later, sophomore Matt Jumes added a 23-yard field goal to make the score 31-3. The final touchdown of the game occurred with just over nine minutes left of regulation, as sophomore Sean Clapp caught a 25-yard pass from Fetter in the endzone, making the final score of the game a 38-3, in favor of the Bants. The dominating win was fueled by Senior QB Spencer Fetter who finished the game with 20 out of 26 completed passes for an impressive 361 yards with four touchdowns and no interceptions. The Bantam defense was again simply stellar and allowed no touchdowns. This win bumps the Bantams up to a perfect record of 7-0 on the season, as they are just two games away from clinching the NESCAC title. Roll Bants!