Hartford, Conn. – Junior midfielder Rachel
Romanowsky (Hampstead, N.H.) had three goals and an assist
to lead the Trinity College Bantams to a 12-8 victory over the
visiting Middlebury College Panthers in New England Small College
Athletic Conference (NESCAC) women's lacrosse action this
afternoon on Sheppard Field. The Bantams, ranked No. 5 in the
nation, improve to 10-1 overall and 6-1 in the NESCAC with their
second win in a row and their first over the Panthers in the last
20 meetings between the teams. Trinity's last win
against Middlebury was a 7-6 triumph in 1989 and the Bantams are
now 8-19 all-time against the Panthers. Middlebury, ranked
No. 11 nationally, drops to 5-6 overall and 3-4 in the league with
their third consecutive loss.
Trinity jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first seven minutes, as
freshman Megan Leonhard (Summit, N.J.) opened the
scoring with a free-position goal 41 seconds into the contest and
Romanowsky assisted classmate Caitlin Irvine (Westwood,
Mass.) on a goal 22 seconds later before scoring her first
of the day at the 27:25 mark. Junior midfielder
Alisen Urquhart (Redding, Conn.) scored twice in
the next 10 minutes to help the Bantams to an 8-2 advantage with
2:30 left before the break. Middlebury senior tri-captain
attacker Dana Heritage (Cheshire, Conn.) scored
the first of her three tallies to cut the Trinity lead to 8-3 with
two minutes remaining in the first half, but Leonhard converted the
fifth Bantam free-position opportunity in six tries of the first
half with 59 seconds on the clock.
Irvine scored on yet another free position 1:06 into the second
half, but was answered by Heritage at the 25:12 mark. Trinity
midfielder Sarah Remes (Silver Spring, Md.), one
of five Bantam seniors playing in her final regular-season home
game, and Romanowsky each scored goals to give the Bantams their
biggest lead at 12-4 with 16:48 on the clock, but Middlebury
rattled off four unanswered scores to pull back within four at 12-8
with 5:50 left in the game. Panther junior midfielder
Sally Ryan (Mountain Lakes, N.J.) assisted
freshman attacker Margaret Souther (Scarsdale,
N.Y.) on the first goal of the spurt at the 14:20 mark,
and scored the second on a free position with 6:32 left to
play. Souther fed Heritage on a goal 11 seconds later, and
freshman Michaela Colbert (Topsfield, Mass.) found
sophomore Elizabeth Garry (Mamaroneck, N.Y.) for a
goal 31 seconds after that. Middlebury won the ensuing draw,
but Trinity sophomore goalie Gina Dinallo (West Hartford,
Conn.) stopped Souther on a one-on-one chance and took
possession of the ball. Trinity successfully maintained
possession for the final 5:21 of the game to squelch the Panther
rally.
Dinallo finished with nine saves and three ground balls, while
classmate Liz Bruno (Andover, Mass.) collected
four ground balls and caused three turnovers for Trinity.
Ryan finished with three goals and one assist, while senior
tri-captain defender Catherine Gotwal (Alexandria,
Va.) picked up a game-high five ground balls, and
sophomore netminder Lily Nguyen (Oakland, Calif.)
made 14 saves in the Middlebury goal.
box score
