Bero Nets Second and Third Career Goals as Bantams Topple Wesleyan

Hartford, Conn. – Sophomore defender Larry Bero (Foxboro, Mass.) scored two goals to lead the Trinity College Bantams to a 5-2 win over the Wesleyan University Cardinals  in New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) action tonight on Williams Rink at the Koeppel Community Sports Center.  Trinity improves to 9-11-2, snapping a three-game losing streak, with one game to play in the regular season, which will take place tomorrow, at Wesleyan, at 3 p.m.  The Cardinals drop to 11-10-2 after dropping the first of a two-game series tonight.  Trinity clinched a spot in the 2012 NESCAC Championship Tournament with the win, in the final home contest of the season for the Bantams. 

“It's nice to earn a shot at the tournament as a result of our hard work during the regular season,” first-year Head Coach Matt Greason said after the game.  “In the postseason, anything can happen.”

Senior co-captain Joseph Tierney (Reading, Mass.) and freshman Michael Flynn (Cheshire, Conn.) scored back-to-back goals midway through the first period to give the Bantams an early 2-0 lead.   Tierney's goal was his second of the season, and Flynn's was his third of the year, rebounding his own shot for the score. Wesleyan sophomore Keith Buehler (Skaneatles, N.Y.) scored with 23 seconds left on the clock in the opening frame to cut the Trinity lead to 2-1, as the teams left the ice for the locker room for the first intermission. 

Wesleyan outshot Trinity, 11-6, in the second period, but it was the Bantams who were able to light up the scoreboard, courtesy of Bero's sharp-shooting.  The sophomore, who had one goal in his collegiate career before tonight's game, buried two in a span of less than three minutes at the end of the period, to give Trinity a 4-1 lead heading into the third.

With time ticking off the clock in the third, Wesleyan sophomore Nik Tasiopoulos (Norwell, Mass.) gave the Cardinals some hope when he placed the puck perfectly in the top right corner of the net, with 8:11 remaining in the period, cutting the Bantam lead to 4-2.  Riding a wave of momentum, Wesleyan piled up shots, but strong goaltending by sophomore goalkeeper Ben Coulthard (South Windsor, Conn.) frustrated the Cardinals offense.  The Bantams added an empty-netter with 24 seconds to play, to put an exclamation point on their playoff-clinching win.

Coulthard made 34 stops to improve to 7-7 on the year, while Wesleyan junior goalie Glenn Stowell (Hadley, Mass.) made 21 stops for the Cardinals.  Wesleyan outshot Trinity 35-27 in the game, and 22-13 in the final two periods.  The winner of tomorrow afternoon's matchup will determine which team earns the No. 6-seed heading into the NESCAC Championship Tournament.

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