Middlebury, Vt. – The Middlebury College Panthers defeated the Trinity College Bantams, 5-1, in New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) field hockey action this afternoon on Kohn Field.  Trinity, ranked No. 15 in the nation, drops to 8-3 overall and 5-3 in the NESCAC with its first loss in three games.  No. 10-ranked Middlebury extends its winning streak to eight games, improving to 10-2 overall and 6-2 in the league. 

Middlebury opened the scoring just 2:36 into the game, when Elinore O'Brien made a crossing pass to Lauren Greer, who scored with a shot around the pads of Trinity senior captain goalkeeper Gina Dinallo (West Hartford, Conn.).  The lead doubled at the 6:48 mark with a nice crossing pass from Greer to Hannah Clarke for the tally. Clarke struck again for her 11th of the season less than three minutes later, sweeping in a feed from Charlotte Gardiner to make it a 3-0 game just 9:06 into the contest.

Trinity got on the board at the 14:40 mark, when junior forward Alanna Capasso (Weston, Mass.), made good on a hard feed from senior defender Payson Sword (Princeton, N.J.), finishing from the left post.  Middlebury extended its lead to 4-1 22:21 into the second half when Catherine Fowler blasted a shot home from the top of the circle for her second of the year.  The Panthers scored their final goal on a penalty corner with just 20 seconds left to play. Lucy Jackson inserted the ball to Margaret Souther, who set it for a shot by Greer.  Becca Shaw made four saves in 60 minutes for Middlebury to earn the win, while Madeline Brooke made a pair of stops in 10 minutes of action.    

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