Hartford, Conn. – Sophomore forward Alex Toupal (New Brighton, Minn.) scored the game's only goals to lead visiting Amherst College to a 2-0 victory over the Trinity College Bantams in New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) women's ice hockey action on Williams Rink in the Koeppel Community Sports Center this evening.  Trinity drops to 1-3 overall and 0-3 in the NESCAC, with all three of its losses coming against teams ranked among the nation's top ten, while No. 7-ranked Amherst improves to 3-0 overall and in the league.

The game scoreless after two periods, as Trinity sophomore Sydney Belinskas (Port Orange, Fla.) and Amherst sophomore Sabrina Dobbin (Bedford, N.H.) combined for 50 saves between them in the first 40 minutes.  Belinskas stopped 14 shots in the opening stanza, including a brilliant stop against Amherst first-year forward Jocelyn Hunyadi (Pepper Pike, Ohio) from point-blank range 5:27 into the game and four saves in a 53-second span during a penalty kill.  Senior captain Shannon Farrell (Kennebunk, Maine) nearly got the home team on the board with just over seven minutes left before the first break, finding herself one-on-one against Dobbin after grabbing a loose puck, but lost control of it right before getting off a shot.

In the second period, Dobbin made 12 of her 21 saves, diving to deny Trinity sophomore Hannah Oganeku (Castle Pines, Colo.) on a backhanded bid 5:07 into the frame.  Belinskas registered 15 of her 34 saves in the middle period, stopping Hunyadi on a breakaway with 6:35 on the clock to keep the game scoreless on one of the 15.  Amherst broke the stalemate when Toupal scored on a rebound off Hunyadi's saved shot with junior forward Sara Culhane (Princeton, N.J.) also assisting on the play.  The Bantams pulled Belinskas with two minutes left and had a two-skater advantage for the final 33 seconds after an Amherst penalty, but managed just a single shot during the power-play.  Toupal blocked the shot, controlled the puck, and put the game away with an empty-net goal from deep.