Bantams Defeat Bowdoin In League Finals

Hartford, Conn. – Junior midfielder Martha Griffin (Exeter, N.H.) notched three goals and five assists to lead the Trinity College Bantams to a 13-8 win over the visiting Bowdoin College Polar Bears in the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) Championship Finals this afternoon on Sheppard Field.  Top-seeded and top-ranked Trinity improves to 17-1 with its 17th consecutive victory, and wins the league title for the fifth year in a row.  No. 3-seeded and No. 5-ranked Bowdoin falls to 15-3.  Both teams should be in the NCAA bracket when the 2015 Championship Field is announced tonight.

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Trailing, 5-3, with 14:34 left in the first half after a free-position goal by Bowdoin junior midfielder Emma Beecher (Morristown, N.J.), the Bantams rattled off eight unanswered tallies including three by both Griffin and sophomore midfielder Karly Simpson (South Hadley, Mass.), two by senior attacker Molly Cox (Norwell, Mass.), two assisted by Griffin, and two assisted by sophomore attacker Clare Lyne (Concord, Mass.).  Lyne also started the run, converting on a pass by Griffin with 12:15 left in the first half, and fed Cox for the game-winner with 8:25 remaining before the break.

"This feels great, surreal.  I am so proud of the whole team," said Trinity Head Coach Katy Dissinger (1st Season), who was a Bantam assistant coach for the previous three titles before winning her first this spring.  "The players stepped up after facing a two-goal deficit, exploded, and the never looked back."

Trinity senior tri-captain midfielder Caroline Hayes (Greenland, N.H.) assisted Griffin on the final tally of the rally to give the Bantams an 11-5 advantage with 18:07 left in the second stanza.  Beecher scored twice and Bowdoin senior midfielder Clare McLaughlin (Warren, Vt.) scored once in the final 12 minutes, but Griffin fed Lyne on two more Trinity goals to keep the Bantam lead at five goals or more down the stretch.

Trinity junior midfielder Abby McQuillan (Medfield, Mass.) had opened the scoring with an unassisted tally 2:45 into the contest, and Bowdoin junior midfielder Lindsay Picard New York, N.Y.) scored twice in three minutes followed by a third-straight Polar Bear tally by junior attacker Megan O'Connor (Concord, Mass.) to give the visitors a 3-1 lead at the 22:05 mark of the first half.  Senior tri-captain Renee Olsen (Ridgewood, N.J.) one-timed in a pretty pass by Griffin for Trinity's second goal with 19:34 on the clock, and Picard and Simpson traded goals to make the score, 4-3, in Bowdoin's favor before Beecher's first goal gave the Polar Bears their 5-3 lead.

Lyne and Simpson joined Griffin as Trinity hat-trick scorers, while Lyne also had two assists and three draw controls.  Junior defender Ashley Steward (Dover, Mass.) paced Trinity in ground balls with three, while Hayes notched three draw controls and two caused turnovers, and freshman Zoe Ferguson (Ridgewood, N.J.) and junior Emily Mooney (New York, N.Y.) combined for 10 saves.  Beecher and Picard scored three times each for the Polar Bears, while Picard added a game-high four draw controls, and senior goalie Isabel Sippel (Ridgewood, N.J.) made four of the team's six saves.  Bowdoin did not record an assist.  Griffin set a new Trinity single-season scoring record with her second point and has 93 points on 70 goals and 23 assists this spring.  She broke the previous mark held by Bea Gratry since 2005.  She needs two more goals to tie Gratry as the College's top single-season goal scorer.

"Martha's game has reached a new level," added Dissinger.  "The points are great and I am happy for her, but her focus has always been on doing whatever she can to help the team achieve its goals."