Breaking Through: Trinity Women’s Soccer Celebrates First Win

Annika Haley ’26

Sports Editor

After a challenging start to the season, Trinity College’s women’s soccer team finally broke through with a well-deserved victory, marking a turning point in their campaign. Following five tough losses in highly competitive matches, the Bantams showcased resilience, earning their first win (4-1) against SUNY Oneonta on Sunday, September 22. 

The Bantams opened the scoring early in the 9th minute with a breakaway goal from junior forward, Elena Lindonen. Despite a late first-half goal from Oneonta to even the score, Trinity dominated the second half. Lindonen kicked things off by netting a second goal, beautifully assisted by junior defender, Sarah Kenney. Following Lindonens two goals, sophomore forward Emma Almoney and junior forward Alyssa Keane each found the back of the net, bringing Trinity’s total to four goals. The Bantams’ goalkeepers, Lily Bracken and Zoe Tamborello, combined for seven saves, demonstrating a strong defensive performance. Trinity’s head coach, Rachael Shroeder, praised the team’s resilience and optimism, emphasizing this win as a pivotal moment for building confidence moving forward. 

As the Bantams look to build on this momentum, Trinity will play two away matches against Brandeis University and Johnson & Wales University on September 28th and 29th . The Tripod got the opportunity to speak with three 2026 players of the Trinity women’s soccer team, captain Elena Lindonen, Alyssa Keane and Jillian Fisher, regarding their first victory and their expectations for the near future. 

A first victory after a series of losses inevitably stirs powerful emotions within a resilient team. Lindonen expressed the shared emotions among the team by stating, “It was a big game for us and we felt like we had to win it. We’ve been working hard and we’ve been getting better each game, and this game showed that we can win if we work together.” Fisher added, “A lot of things clicked for us that were missing throughout the start of the season. We were able to build on our successes throughout the game and figure out what works for individuals and the team as a whole.” Keane then added, “It felt good to finally get a win. We have a very young team so we needed to come together and that took a bit of time, but I think it clicked for us. It’ll be a turning point in our season.”

The Bantams have only played three NESCAC conference games, so they have plenty of season left to improve. Keane shared the team’s plan to build off of this momentum while moving forward in both practices and games by stating, “We’ve been focusing on playing quick, playing together as a team and defending and attacking together. I think what made that game different from past games is that it finally clicked for us. I think we just need to keep working on that. Fisher followed Keanes statement by adding, “it’s hard to implement a style of play and a team culture on the field with half our team being new. I think after a few games we got to see more of that. Now that we’ve played together for a few games, we have more team chemistry in general and we have to build on that for the rest of the season. We’re focusing on not being eleven individuals on the field, but one team.” Lindonen then concluded their plans for using this momentum in practices and games. “We’ve been practicing a lot on how to defend with each other and I think moving forward we’ll keep that in the back of our heads, but now we have to figure out how we are going to attack and what our movements are going to be. Those are the next steps for our team to put the ball in the back of the net”. 

The Bantams are heading into what will likely be two competitive matches on September 28th and 29th, and they shared their thoughts on how this win will translate into this weekend, and their plans for the rest of the season. Keane started off with, “This was definitely a morale boost for the team and going into the rest of the season we know what we’re capable of and that we can do it.” Lindonen followed Keane by adding, “We have to keep the energy up. Last week we talked a lot about keeping the energy up, especially with the first-years being half the team. We are asking a lot of them but we need them to step up together and individually play bigger roles than just themselves. We talked a lot about asking them to be more involved, more energetic, and to take charge because it’s hard to constantly push them. I think it’s time for them to step up and take a lead because it’s a big difference when everyone is cheering people on with high energy. I know it feels like we’ve lost so much but I am so proud of everyone for continuing to work hard and not giving up. Don’t get me wrong, it’s been hard to lose a lot, but I feel like everyone comes to practice wanting to be better and no one is giving up.” Fisher concluded with her thoughts on this coming weekend and plans for her team’s success in the future by stating, “Obviously, it’s hard to go into the past few games knowing we have not won a game in a month. We were always trying to get our first win, but now we have our first win under our belt, it’s easier to keep adding on to success. We’ve built a ton of resilience early on which will help us towards the end of the season when things get hard. If we end up going to the playoffs, being able to bounce back when we’re down by having that inherent resilience we’ve built now is important.”