Amherst, Mass. - The visiting Trinity College Bantams avenged their only loss of the last two seasons with an 11-6 victory against the Amherst College Lord Jeffs in the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) women's lacrosse regular-season finale for both teams this evening.  Finishing the regular campaign with an unblemished 14-0 overall record and a 10-0 NESCAC mark, the Bantams win their 22nd straight game dating back a 7-6 loss against the Lord Jeffs in 2012. Trinity was 14-0 in 2011 en route to an 18-1 season prior to winning its first NCAA title last season with a 21-1 mark.  The top-seeded Bantams face No. 8-seeded Tufts in this weekend's conference championship quarterfinals, while the No. 5-seeded Jeffs square off with No. 4-seeded Colby on Saturday.  Trinity will be seeking their third consecutive league crown.

"Heading into the game, we really stressed being more aggressive offensively," Head Coach Kate Livesay said.  "We wanted to take more risks and push the ball.  I was really pleased with how we started the game."

Racing out to an early lead, Trinity netted three goals in the first 5:15. Senior attacker Hadley Duncan (Rye, N.Y.) got things started with an unassisted tally just 1:07 after the opening draw before classmate Kaitlin Hildebrand (Berwyn, Pa.) and first-year attacker Molly Cox (Norwell, Mass.) netted scores 2:14 apart. Bantam sophomore midfielder Caroline Hayes (Greenland, N.H.) made it 4-0 with a goal at 18:29 before Mia Haughton put Amherst on the board by converting a free-position just over a minute later.  Feeding Meghan Mills in front, Alex Philie  helped the Jeffs cut the lead in half, but consecutive Hildebrand tallies stretched the margin to 6-2. Mills scored again with 2:02 on the clock to pull Amherst back within three.

With neither team able to get anything going offensively through the first 12-plus minutes of the second, Trinity senior attacker Haley Thompson (Ipswich, Mass.) dumped a pass into rookie midfielder Martha Griffin (Exeter, N.H.). Quickly spinning away from a defender, Griffin fired a hard shot into the upper right corner to up the Bantam advantage to 7-3. Senior tri-captain midfielder Megan Leonhard (Summit, N.J.) extended the visitors' margin to five with a free-position goal at 15:37.  Elizabeth Ludlow scored for Amherst with under 10 minutes on the clcok, but junior attacker Shea Kusiak (Longmeadow, Mass.) came right back, weaving through the Amherst defense before notching the Bantams' ninth score with 7:58 on the clock. Winning the ensuing draw control, Krista Zsitvay pushed it upfield before slotting a pass to Philie who fed Hillary Densen for a score, but Kusiak once responded with another free-position to give Trinity a 10-5 cushion.

Trinity finished with a decisive 25-13 shot advantage, while holding a slim 18-17 edge in ground balls. Whitney made six saves en route to her seventh win, while Forrest made 11 stops, falling to 5-4 on the season. The first-year goalkeeper led the Jeffs with six ground balls, while Haughton caused a pair of turnovers. Leonhard and Sophomore midfielder Lindsay Mullaney (Wellesley, Mass.) each tracked down three ground balls for the Bantams.  Philie finished with two assists, while Zsitvay, Densen, Ludlow and Haughton each got on the board. Hildebrand turned in a hat-trick to pace the Bantams, while Hayes and Kusiak had two goals each.

"We took advantage of early chances and really looked for lanes to the goal," Livesay added.  "It was a great defensive effort as well.  We were patient and did a great job picking up loose balls.  Amherst is a great team and I was very pleased with our effort all game long."

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