Middletown, Conn. - The visiting Trinity College Bantams and the Wesleyan University Cardinals skated to a 3-3 women's ice hockey deadlock in a game with tremendous New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) playoff implications.  As a result, the winner of the Wesleyan-Trinity rematch in Hartford tomorrow to end the regular season will earn the No. 4 seed in the upcoming NESCAC tournament and host a quarterfinal game next Saturday.  Wesleyan and Trinity now are tied for fourth, one point ahead of Bowdoin.  Should Wesleyan and Trinity tie again tomorrow and Bowdoin win vs. Amherst, Bowdoin will get fourth place.

Wesleyan junior Jordan Schildhaus scored her second goal of the game with just :15 left in regulation with Wesleyan's goalie on the bench in favor of the sixth skater to send the game with Trinity here tonight into overtime.  She had tied the game at 11:32 of the third period with a high wrist shot from just inside the blue line during a Wesleyan power play after taking a pass from freshman Jess Brennan from the right circle.  That made the score 2-2, but Trinity countered just 59 seconds later on a great individual rush by senior forward Abby Ostrom (Carlisle, Mass.), as she brought the puck into the Wesleyan zone on the right with one defender back, used her as a screen and sent a low shot to the far side past Wesleyan sophomore goalie Corinne Rivard.  It was her sixth tally of the year.

Wesleyan had drawn first blood when senior Glenn Hartman-Mattson received a centering pass from Brennan behind the net on the right and one-timed a shot into the net behind Trinity senior goalie Kristen Maxwell (Nashville, Tenn.) at 11:57.  Bantam junior forward Lucy Robinson (Toronto, Ontario) tied the game for Trinity at 16:17, finishing off a breakaway set up by a pass from sophomore forward Cheeky Herr (Princeton, N.J.).  Robinson drew Rivard out and tucked the puck in tight on the right for her fourth goal of the season. The Bantams took the lead only 1:08 later when senior captain forward Emily Kleidon (Oakdale, Minn.) tied for the team lead in goals with her 10th, getting to a loose puck after a slap shot by freshman Jessica Stowell (Hadley, Mass.) had been blocked leaving the puck in a maze of players in the slot.  Kleidon found it and whisked a backhand into the net.  The score remained unchanged for more than 34 minutes.

In overtime, with the teams skating four-on-four, Wesleyan generated a 9-3 edge in shots but Maxwell was up for the task.  The Cardinals had a power play for the final 42 seconds and maintained the pressure but the score remained tied.  Maxwell made nine of her 33 stops in the extra frame, while Rivard had 24 saves.

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