HARTFORD, Conn. – The Trinity College field hockey team pitched a 5-0 shutout over St. John Fisher College to advance past the first round of the NCAA DIII Championship Tournament on Wednesday night at Robin L. Sheppard Field. The Bantams win marks the eighth time they have advanced past the NCAA Championship Tournament's first round and are now set to face Kean University on Saturday at 2 p.m. in Babson Park, Mass. in the second round of the bracket. 
 
Just one minute and 16 seconds into action, Sophomore Katrina Winfield redirected a shot from fellow classmate Molly King which snuck past the keeper to give Trinity the 1-0 lead. Following a scoreless second period, St. John Fisher's closest scoring attempt throughout the game came just before the 33-minute mark when Bre Socker created an opportunity off of a penalty corner and rocketed a shot into the legs of Olivia McMichael who made the kick-save. 
 
Five minutes later, senior Meghan Evans gave the Bantams a 2-0 lead with the help of Riley Nichols. Nichol's initial shot was saved by the foot of Fisher goalkeeper Sophia Trozzi but followed up by Evans who swatted the ball out of the air and into the cage. Nearly a minute later, sophomore Jackie Frank played the ball in to senior Caelin Flaherty who finished the job and gave the Blue and Gold a comfortable 3-0 lead. Senior Christine Taylor would later add Trinity's fourth goal of the night off a penalty stroke while Winfield found the back of the cage for the second time in the contest to put her team up 5-0 with less than a minute remaining. 
 
Trinity outshot the Cardinals 29-3 and held the advantage in penalty corners at 3-1. Trozzi collected 11 saves for St. John Fisher while McMichael tallied a pair of her own and picked up her second shutout this year. Winfield's goals marked her second and third of the season while also registering her first two-goal game of her career. Evans goal was good for her first this season while King recorded her first-career assist. Flaherty, who was recently named to the New England Small College Athletic Conference First Team, added her 19^thgoal of 2021.