Hartford, Conn. – First-year netminder Sydney Belinskas (Port Orange, Fla.) recorded her conference-leading fifth shutout of the season as the Trinity College women's hockey team blanked Bowdoin, 2-0, in New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) action on Saturday afternoon inside the Koeppel Community Sports Center on Williams Rink. With the win, the Bantams managed to bounce back from yesterday's setback versus the Polar Bears to improve to 12-6-1 overall and 5-6-1 in conference play, while the visitors dropped to 9-8-4 on the year and 5-5-2 in league tilts.

Belinskas stopped 29 shots, highlighted by 12 in the third period, to lead Trinity to its first home conference win in the calendar year. On the opposite end, sophomore goaltender Lan Crofton made 18 saves in a losing effort for Bowdoin.

The first scoring opportunity came midway through the opening period as the Polar Bears came in on a 2-on-1 break following a Trinity turnover. After Belinskas turned aside the initial shot, Bowdoin senior tri-captain Chelsea MacNeil fired the rebound just wide of the open net. Through the remainder of the period, the Polar Bears pressed the Bantams, but the defense held their ground as two NESCAC rivals entered the intermission scoreless.

In the second period, Trinity opened the scored just under four minutes in as Cheeky Herr (Princeton, N.J.) took advantage of Bowdoin turnover deep in the defensive zone. There was a miscommunication between a Polar Bear defender and Crofton on a puck behind the net and Herr corralled the errant pass and backhanded a shot that found that beat Crofton for her team-leading 14th tally of the season.

Midway through the stanza, Bowdoin again gave the puck away, this time along boards at center ice, and Trinity junior forward Shannon Farrell (Kennebunk, Maine) played the puck ahead to senior tri-captain Lucy Robinson (Toronto, Ontario) who came in on a breakaway and beat Crofton with a nifty deke for her 13th marker and team-high 29th point of the year. The helper was Farrell's 18 point of the season as she has now doubled her offensive output from last winter.

Throughout the third period, both teams traded scoring opportunities with neither being able to breakthrough. On the power play with just over two minutes remaining in regulation, Bowdoin pulled Crofton in favor of an extra attacker. Down two skaters, the Bantam penalty killers dug in and created several chances on the open net, but both Herr and Farrell were unsuccessful in their attempts to put the game away. After the power play ended, the Polar Bears fired several shots on goal, but Belinskas was up to the task turning each aside.

Bowdoin held a 29-20 advantage in shots and the Polar Bears went 0-for-5 on the power play. On special teams, the Bantams were unable to convert on either of their two power-play opportunities.

Trinity returns to action next weekend, Feb. 14-15, with a home NESCAC series versus Amherst.