Field Hockey Wins One, Suffers Two Tough Losses

Following a strong 2016 season that led the Bantam Field Hockey team to an NCAA DIII Tournament berth, Trinity opened the 2017 season ranked 10th in the country, and got off to a blazing hot start against Smith College on September 7th. The Bantams were held to the scoreboard for almost 20 minutes thanks to strong play from the Smith goalkeeper, but finally broke through at the 19:51 mark on a goal from Kelcie Finn (’18). The Bantams used that momentum to score four more goals in the second half, including 2 more goals from Finn to complete the hat trick. Chandler Solimine (’19) and Alison Slowe (’19) also added to the goal scoring frenzy, and the Bantams went on to win 5-0.
After a dominant victory in the season opener, Trinity lost a hard fought NESCAC battle against the Williams College Ephs. The Bantams got off to a slow start, falling behind 2 goals just 11 minutes into the game, but came back quickly with a goal from Kelcie Finn early in the 2nd half. That goal, however, was answered minutes later by an Ephs goal that opened up another 2 goal lead for the visitors. A goal by Alison Slowe at the 51:42 mark brought the Bantams back to within 1, but to no avail, as the Williams defense held strong to close out the 3-2 victory.

Following the tough loss to Williams, the Bantams went back into action on Saturday against another NESCAC foe, the Hamilton College Continentals. As two of the top 15 teams in the nation, this game was destined to be a battle. Hamilton struck first at just 59 seconds into the contest. The Bantams charged back, with Finn scoring yet another goal to level the standing just 10 minutes later. In a very back and forth affair, Hamilton answered with a goal of their own 14 minutes later to regain their one goal lead. The home team; however, was not to be outdone. Kendall Brown (’21) answered back at the 30:19 mark to even up the score going into the halftime break. Unfortunately for the Bantams, the Continentals were the last to punch in this fight, scoring at the 49:54 mark in the 2nd half. Trinity fought until the end, but was held off the scoreboard by Hamilton’s strong defensive unit and goalkeeping.
The Bantams have a long stretch of NESCAC bouts coming up, making this a crucial point early in their season. Trinity returns home in October with games against Keene State and the Bowdoin Polar Bears. Stay tuned, and come out to support the Trinity Field Hockey Bantams!