Hartford, Conn. – The Trinity College Bantams scored at the beginning and the end of the first half to defeat the visiting Eastern Connecticut State University Warriors, 2-0, in women's soccer action this afternoon.  Trinity, ranked No. 7 in New England, improves to 8-1-2 with its seventh win in a row that extends its unbeaten streak to nine game (8-0-1), avenging a 2-1 overtime loss to the Warriors in Willimantic last fall.  Eastern Connecticut, ranked No. 8 in New England, drops to 8-3-2 while ending a six-game unbeaten streak (4-0-2).

Less than three minutes into the game, Trinity senior Nicole Stauffer (Cheshire, Conn.) and Andi Nicholson (Charlotte, N.C.) provided assists on the game-winning goal by sophomore forward Taylor Kirchgessner (Bethesda, Md.).  Stauffer threaded the ball to Nicholson at the top of the box, and Nicholson controlled it in traffic before passing left to Kirchgessner.  Notching her team-leading seventh goal of the season, Kirchgessner made a slight move toward her left just enough to move Warrior sophomore goalie Kayla Labrecque (Westhampton, Mass.) out of position before sliding back to her right and shooting into open space on the right side of the goal.

Eastern Connecticut nearly tied it in the 24th minute, when senior Haley Lehning (Woodbury, Conn.) rocketed a blast off the cross bar from just outside the box.  Trinity scored its second marker with just seven second left before the break, as first-year Katherine Marlow-Benedick (Weston, Mass.) and Kirchgessner worked a give-and-go on the left flank and Marlow-Benedick beat a diving Labrecque to the Warrior goalkeeper's left for her first collegiate goal.  Both defenses were stout in the second half with just three shots on goal apiece after intermission.  Kirchgessner missed high with a hard shot from inside the box in the 86th minute for the closest chance of the second stanza.

watch Marlow-Benedick's first career goal 

Trinity finished with a slight, 9-7 shooting edge and the Bantams took the lone corner kick of the contest.  Labrecque finished with four saves and Trinity junior Julia Pitino (Littleton, Mass.) stopped three shots for her fourth-straight shutout and her seventh clean sheet of the season.  Pitino and the Bantam back line have not allowed a goal in their last 429 minutes of play.  The Bantams host Middlebury, ranked No. 6 in New England, on Saturday at 11 a.m. and Tufts the next day at 1 p.m. in a pivotal weekend of New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) action.  The Warriors visit Mass.-Boston on Friday at 7 p.m.