Williamstown, Mass. - The Trinity College women's soccer team fell behind early and was unable to bounce back as the Bowdoin College Polar Bears advance to the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) Tournament Championship game tomorrow against host Williams. The loss drops the Bantams to 11-6 overall and 6-4 in conference play. 

Both teams played a back and forth game early, with neither team able to get many scoring opportunities. Trinity had one of their better scoring chances on the day just 12 minutes into the first half when junior midfielder Nicole Stauffer (Chesire, Conn.) had the ball just outside Bowdoin's goal box and fired a shot towards the net that missed high. Three minutes later, Bowdoin's Evan Fencik (Chicago, Ill.) crossed a ball toward the goal from the near-side corner that Bantam senior goalie and tri-captain Monica DiFiori (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) had trouble handling, allowing the ball to knuckle into the back of the net to put the Polar Bears up 1-0 in the 15th minute. 

The rest of the first half went without incident as both teams combined to put just five shots on net the entire game. The Bantams came out the aggressor out of the halftime break getting all three of their shots on goal to Bridget McCarthy (Hopkinton, Mass.) who was able to stop all of them. Trinity senior forward and tri-captain Lexi Menard (Wallingford, Conn.) had a chance to score early, dribbling the ball into Bowdoin's defensive-third on the far side, but missed a shot wide-left, keeping the score 1-0 in favor of the Polar Bears.

With time running out and Trinity needing an equalizer, the Bantams added an extra attacker, pushing everyone on the field up but was unable to find the elusive game-tying goal. The team had a corner kick with one minute remaining in what was the last chance to send the game to overtime but the Polar Bear defense thwarted a frenzy of Trinity shot attempts in front of the net, clearing the ball downfield, and ending the Bantams scoring threat.