Hartford, Conn. - Junior Grace O'Donnell (Yarmouth, Maine) and sophomore Mary French (Gloucester, Mass.) each netted hat-tricks to lead the Trinity College women's lacrosse team to a 14-11 victory over the Tufts University Jumbos on Saturday afternoon at a wet Robin Sheppard Field in Hartford. The Bantams, ranked No. 7 in the nation, improve to 7-1 overall and 4-0 in New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) action while Tufts falls to 3-3 on the year and 0-3 in conference play.

Trinity won the ground ball battle, 13-8, and also won 16 draw controls compared to just 11 by the Jumbos. Junior goalie Zoe Ferguson (Ridgefield, N.J.) earned her seventh win of the season between the pipes thanks to a seven save effort, while Tufts goalkeeper Audrey Evers (San Francisco, Calif.) tallied 10 saves on the day. 

Tufts managed to take a one-goal advantage after a first half which featured 15 combined goals by both sides. Jumbo first-year Emily Games (Wayne, Pa.) exploded for a game-high six goals on the afternoon, the first of which came less than five minutes into the opening half to hand Tufts a 1-0 lead. Trinity answered with a three-goal run, ignited by a free-position score from junior Kiley Coffey (West Newbury, Mass.) shortly after Games' goal. Senior co-captains Karly Simpson (South Hadley, Mass.) and Clare Lyne (Concord, Mass.) joined the scoring to put the Bantams up 3-1 with 16:20 remaining in the half.

Games scored twice more, sandwiched around a free-position goal by O'Donnell to reclaim a one-goal lead, before finding the back of the net again after a goal by sophomore Megan Toner (Roswell, Ga.) to put Tufts up 5-4. O'Donnell added her second goal of the game at the 8:09 mark via Lyne's first of three assists on the day to tie the game at 5-5. Jumbo sophomore Cecily Freleich (Wilton, Conn.) and French traded goals just two minutes apart to make it 6-6, before Kate Mackin (Chagrin Hills, Ohio) and Games scored once each within a six-second window to open up a three-goal lead with 2:24 left in the half. Trinity junior Abby McInerney (Cape Elizabeth, Maine) capped off the half with a score for the Bantams to cut the deficit to one entering the break.

Trinity outscored Tufts, 7-3 in the second half en route to the three-goal victory. Lyne wasted no time getting things going with a goal just 15 seconds into the second half thanks to a helper by McInerney. Goals by Coffey and French opened up a 10-8 lead before Mackin halted the run with a Jumbo score at the 22:50 mark. After a McInerney goal, Games cut the Bantam lead to one with her sixth goal of the game. After a score by Trinity junior Allie Barrett (Concord, Mass.), Tufts sophomore Annie Sullivan (Barrington, R.I.) made it a 12-11 game with 8:40 left to go. French and O'Donnell tallied a goal each in the waning minutes as the Bantams controlled the ball for the final three minutes to pull away with the 14-11 victory.