Bantams Win Streak Snaps in Loss to Middlebury

STEW WILLIAMS ’18 CONTRIBUTING WRITER
 The visiting Bantams suffered their first loss in seven games at the hand of the Middlebury Panthers in a 4-0 shutout this Saturday, marking an abrupt end to their six game win streak. Trinity (7-5) was coming off an impressive 4-1 win against the Springfield College Pride in which they out shot Springfield 27 to 4. First year forward Kendall Brown had a stunning game with two goals while sophomore Nicole Quinlan and senior tri-captain Kelcie Finn put in two more. In addition Finn had a record-breaking game by adding two assists to the stat sheet, passing Lexi Rice ’92 for Trinity’s all-time assist leader.
The Bantam’s performance against Springfield was a promising one as they looked to topple the No. 3 ranked Panthers (10-2) and continue to ride their win streak on Saturday. Trinity came in hot right out of the gate with a hard shot to the upper left corner by Finn at 4:45 that was sent back by Middlebury goalie Abby Furdak. Nine minutes later the Panthers step out in front on a goal by Marissa Baker that came off a centering feed from Annie Leonard. The lead then doubled on a tip in from Leonard after a shot by Danielle Brown was deflected by Trinity’s senior goalie Lori Berger. The Bantams headed into the locker room at half down two as they failed to find the back of the net in the first half. Out of the intermission Finn had another great chance at the 37:33 mark but her shot sailed high of the net. This would be the last shot on goal the Bantams would have all game as the Panthers put on a dominating performance to close the game. Middlebury doubled their lead with goals by Molly Freeman (48:31) and Audrey Quirk (52:03) to put the nail in the coffin for the Bants.
The No. 3 ranked Panthers improved to 10-2 on the year as they had the Bantams number all day on Saturday. The game proved to be a complete role reversal for the Bants from their win on Monday as they were outshot by Middlebury 22 to 6. This is a steep drop off from their season average of 17 shots per game and contributed to the tough loss handed to them by the panthers. The Bantam offense will look to bounce back from this off performance with their game against in-state conference rival Wesleyan (3-9) on Wednesday.