Middletown, Conn. - Senior Nicole Stauffer (Cheshire, Conn.) assisted on two goals and junior goalkeeper Julia Pitino (Littleton, Mass.) made six saves to earn a shutout win, as the visiting Trinity College Bantams posted a 4-0 victory over the Wesleyan University Cardinals in New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) women's soccer action this afternoon at Jackson Field.  Trinity improves to 6-1-2 overall and 4-1 in the NESCAC with its fifth consecutive victory and is 6-0-1 in its last seven games.  The Bantams are now alone in second place in the conference with a pivotal road battle at Bowdoin (7-2, 3-1) on Saturday.  Wesleyan drops to 2-4-3 overall and 0-2-3 in the league and extends its winless streak to six games (0-3-3). 

The Bantams scored all four of their goals in the first half with the first coming 13:03 into the contest.  Stauffer fed senior captain Laura Nee (Duxbury, Mass.) in the box beautifully on the ground from the right wing, and Nee knocked the ball quickly past Wesleyan freshman goalie Zoe Cassels-Brown (Bristol, Vt.).  Just a few minutes later at 15:41, Bantam senior forward Andi Nicholson broke free from the Cardinal defense and found the back of the net for the 2-0 advantage.

The visitors added another goal in the 21st minute, as Stauffer fed sophomore forward Taylor Kirchgessner (Bethesda, Md.) for her team-leading sixth goal of the season.  Wesleyan cane came close to getting on the board when rookie forward Katie Frizzell (Los Angeles, Calif.) lofted a long shot that caromed off the cross bar with 16:47 left before the break.  Trinity senior captain back Sheena Landy (Durham, Conn.) completed the scoring with a header after a senior captain midfielder Kendra Lena (Madison, Conn.) sent a perfect ball off a corner kick directly in front of the goal in the 38th minute.

Wesleyan came alive offensively in the second half, forcing Pitino to make five of her six saves in the second 45 minutes, but the score was the same at the end as at the halfway point.  Pitino, who has logged all 872 minutes of her team's goalie minutes this fall, has not allowed a goal in her last 249 minutes of play and just five all year.  Cassels-Brown and fellow rookie Claire Coyle (Wynnewood, Pa.) combined for seven saves.  Trinity held the edge in shots at 16-11, and corner kicks at 8-4.