Williamstown, Mass. - The visiting Trinity College Bantams fell just short of a New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) Women's Ice Hockey Championship Quarterfinal win, losing, 3-2, against the Williams College Ephs this afternoon.  Trinity ends its season with a 10-8-7 record, while the Ephs improve to 13-9-3 with their third victory over the Bantams this season, and earn the right to host the NESCAC Semifinals and Finals next weekend. 

Both teams saw man-up chances to start the first frame, but the contest remained deadlocked up at 0-0 for the opening 10 minutes of play.  The Bantams killed a power play late in the first, stealing the momentum and producing the first goal of the afternoon with 2:53 remaining in the period.  After collecting a pass from sophomore forward Emma Tani (Orange, Calif.), Trinity senior defender Sarah Duncan (Dedham, Mass.) sent a shot from the left side that slid past the glove side of Williams goalie Charlie Billadeau.  Trinity senior Kristen Maxwell (Nashville, Tenn.) was stellar in the first period with saves on all 11 Eph shots, and followed with 10 stops in a scoreless second frame for both squads.

The Eph offense came alive at the beginning of the third frame, notching back-to-back goals to take their first lead of the afternoon. Sophomore forward Gwendolyn Schultz (Wallingford, Conn.) got things started for Williams when she corralled a rebound in front of the net and poked a shot past Maxwell.  Just 18 seconds later, senior co-captain Cristina Bravi (Montreal, Quebec) scored on another rebound to give Williams a 2-1 lead with 16:57 to go.  Trinity knotted things up at at the nine-minute mark. The equalizer came when Bantam senior captain forward Lauren Glynn (Tucson, Ariz.) passed the puck to Tani, who beat an Eph defender and slid the puck past Billadeau.  The Eph offense was quick to respond and stole back their lead 36 seconds later, as Bravi controlled a face-off and passed to Hannah Beattie (Whitehouse Station, N.J.), who faked a shot and then went to the outside and netted the game-winner.  The Bantams put considerable offensive pressure on the Williams defense late in the third and pulled Maxwell in an effort to send the contest into extra minutes, but Billadeau made two saves in the final 1:21 to seal it for Williams.  Maxwell finished with 33 saves and Billadeau had 16 stops.

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