Hartford, Conn. -  Junior forward Kim Weiss (Potomac, Md.) scored the game-winning goal on a penalty shot 1:39 into overtime to lead the Trinity College Bantams to a 2-1 victory over the Middlebury College Panthers in New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) women's ice hockey action this evening at Williams Rink.  Trinity, ranked No. 8 in the nation, improves to 8-1-2 overall and 3-1-2 in the NESCAC with its fifth win in a row and its first-ever win against Middlebury in 21 tries, while the No. 5-ranked Panthers fall to 5-3 overall and 4-1 in the league with their third consecutive defeat.  The Bantams, in their 12th season as a varsity program, are now 1-18-2 all-time against the Panthers but 1-2-2 in the last five contests between the schools.

Trinity was awarded a penalty shot when a Middlebury player covered the puck in her own goalie's crease, and Weiss deked several times before depositing her shot top shelf over the right shoulder of Panther senior tri-captain goaltender Lani Wright (Reading, Mass.).  The Bantams had opened the scoring in the first period when Weiss centered a pass that was knocked away by a Middlebury player directly onto the stick of Trinity junior defender Laura Komarek (Plymouth, Minn.), who quickly shot into the net.  Middlebury evened the score on a trickling shot by junior forward Julia Ireland (Greenwich, Conn.) that stopped Bantam senior tri-captain backstop Isabel Iwachiw's (New York, N.Y.) streak of 178 minutes without allowing a goal. 

Iwachiw finished with 31 saves and Wright had 24 stops, while both teams came up empty on seven combined power-play opportunities.  Sophomore forwards Grace Waters (Snyder, N.Y.) and Maggie Melberg (Woody Creek, Colo.) provided assists on the Middlebury goal, as the Panthers outshot Trinity, 32-26, including a 13-6 edge in the second period.

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