HARTFORD, Conn. - The Trinity College field hockey team, which finished the 2021 regular season with an 11-4 overall record and tied with Amherst and Williams for fourth place in the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) with a 6-4 league mark, has qualified for the league's championship tournament for the 15th consecutive time and will host the Williams College Ephs in the quarterfinals on Saturday, October 30 at 1 p.m. Trinity, coached by Anne Parmenter (21st Season), earned the No. 4 seed thanks to the Bantams' 1-0 road victory over the Ephs on September 25 and its 2-1 win on a shootout at Amherst on Tuesday night.  The Bantams are currently ranked No. 3 in their NCAA Region and No. 11 in the National Field Hockey Coaches Association (NFHCA) Division III Poll.

Trinity got off to 6-0 start to the year and of its four losses, two came on a shootout and the other two came against teams ranked among the nation's top three schools. The Bantams look to return to the NESCAC Semifinals for the third time in four seasons but are seeking their first conference crown. The winner of the NESCAC Championship Tournament will determine the league's automatic qualifier for the NCAA Division III Championship Tournament. No. 1-seeded Middlebury (15-0, 10-0) hosts No. 8-seeded Bates (7-8, 3-7), No. 2-seeded Tufts (12-3, 8-2) hosts No. 7-seeded Hamilton (10-5, 5-5), and No. 3-seeded Bowdoin (12-3, 7-3) hosts No. 6-seeded Amherst (11-4, 6-4)  in the other quarterfinal games Saturday. Trinity reached the finals in 2009 and 2017, but was knocked out in the quarters in its last appearance two autumns ago.

Trinity senior captain forward Caelin Flaherty (Upton, Mass.) has emerged as one of the top finishers in the conference, ranking second in the NESCAC with 1.13 goals per game (17) and 2.60 ppg (39 points).  Sophomore F/M Jackie Frank (Longmeadow, Mass.) is fourth in goals in the league with 0.87 per game (13) and seventh in overall scoring with 1.80 ppg (27). Flaherty and sophomore midfielder Katrina Winfield (Wilmington, Del.) boast a team-high five assists apiece, while Frank leads the Bantams with four game-winning tallies.  Sophomore goalkeeper Olivia McMichael (Glenside, Pa.) has 33 saves for a .805 save percentage and a 0.94 GAA in the cage, playing behind Trinity's steady defense that includes junior Elle Fair (Westport, Conn.), sophomore Molly King (Canton, Mass.), and first-year Izzy Deveney (Westport, Conn.), who have yielded just 100 shots this fall.  On Tuesday under a steady rainfall, the Bantams knocked off No. 7-ranked Amherst thanks to shootout goals by senior captain midfielder Christine Taylor (Westport, Conn.) and Deveney  to go with four saves in four tries by McMichael during the Mammoth shootout attempts.  Frank scored the Bantam goal in regulation and McMichael had five saves in 80 minutes in the cage.

Williams, coached by Alix Barrale (21st Season), is ranked No. 5 in the region and No. 10 in the nation with all four of its losses coming by a single goal. Shea van de Broek leads the Eph offense with 13 goals and four assists, while Emily Batchelor has 11 goals and three assists, and Catherine Torres adds 10 goals and four assists.  Carson Stephenson and Gates Tenerowicz have a 1.05 GAA and a .738 combined save percentage in the Williams cage.  The NESCAC Championship series is tied at 2-2 between the two teams who last met in the 2017 semifinal round with Trinity pulling out a win in overtime.  The Ephs have qualified for the NESCAC Championship 20 times since 2000 and have advanced to the semifinals each of the last four seasons.