Hartford, Conn. – Senior captain forward Colleen Finnerty (Hopkinton, Mass.) scored the game-winning goal with 0.8 seconds left to cap off a wild third period and lead the visiting Bowdoin College Polar Bears to a 6-5 victory over the Trinity College Bantams this evening in New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) women's ice hockey action on Williams Rink in the Koeppel Community Sports Center.  Trinity falls to 11-6-1 overall 4-6-1 in the NESCAC, while Bowdoin improves to 9-6-4 overall and 5-4-2 in the league.  The teams will complete the two-game series in Hartford tomorrow at 4 p.m.

Trailing, 5-3, with two minutes on the clock, Trinity pulled first-year goaltender Sydney Belinskas (Port Orange, Fla.) in favor of an extra skater twice and scored both times to tie the game at 5-5.  Senior forward Lucy Robinson (Toronto, Ontario) netted a hat trick when she jammed in a loose puck that had gotten behind Bowdoin sophomore backstop Lan Crofton (Milton, Mass.) with 1:39 left, and rookie forward Kelcie Finn (Weymouth, Mass.) tied it with a wrap-around behind Crofton's right shoulder from classmate Hannah Oganeku (Castle Pines, Colo.) with 32 seconds remaining.  Bowdoin won the ensuing face-off, however, and Finnerty smacked the puck past Belinskas from close on the right side to win it for the visitors. 

Bowdoin built a 2-1 lead after one period, outshooting Trinity, 14-6, including a pair of tallies by rookie forward Miranda Bell (Plano, Texas).  Bantam junior forward Shannon Farrell (Kennebunk, Maine) stole the puck from the Polar Bear defense and sent a nice pass across to senior forward Lauren Fitzgerald (Milton, Mass.) to tie the game at 1-1 with just under six minutes remaining in the opening stanza before Bell's second put the Polar Bears back ahead with 1:33 on the clock.

Robinson accounted for the only scoring of the second period, scoring once on a redirect and a second time during a Bantam power play, as Trinity scored led, 3-2, at the second break, but the Polar Bears scored three times in the first 9:03 of the third frame to take a 5-3 lead.  Junior forward Ariana Bourque (West Barnstable, Mass.) won the opening face-off and quickly assisted Finnerty for the goal just 11 seconds into the period.  Bourque fed Rachel Kennedy on another goal 5:10 into the third, and Bell completed a hat trick with 10:57 on the clock. 

Belinskas finished with 27 saves, while junior forward Emma Tani (Orange, Calif.) recorded a pair of Trinity helpers.  The Bantams committed six penalties and converted on one power play in five chances.  Crofton totaled 23 stops and senior forward Chelsea McNeil (Moncton, New Brunswick) had two assists, while Bell and senior forward Schuyler Nardelli (Hamilton, N.Y.) provided assists on Finnerty's game-winner.  Bowdoin had five penalties and converted on two if six power plays while finishing with a 33-to-28 shooting advantage.