HARTFORD, Conn. - The Trinity College field hockey team pulled off a pair of 2-0 upsets against opponents ranked among the nation's top six teams over the weekend to earn its spot in the NCAA Division III Championship Semifinals played on Saturday, November 20 on the Bantams' own Robin L. Sheppard Field.  Trinity will face the Johns Hopkins University Blue Jays in its semifinal matchup on Saturday at 2 p.m., following the first semifinal game featuring the Middlebury College Panthers and the Rowan University Profs at 11 a.m.  The Bantams, coached by Anne Parmenter (21st season), are 15-5 after blanking both Kean University and Babson College on Saturday and Sunday, respectively, on Babson's McDowell Field. The NCAA Division III National Championship game will be on Sunday, November 21 at 1 p.m., also on Sheppard Field, as Trinity is hosting the event for the first time.  Tickets for Wednesday's game are $8 for adults, $6 for students, seniors, and children ages 12 and under. Trinity students with ID will be admitted at no charge courtesy of the College's athletic department.  Tickets are available here.

The Bantams, ranked No. 10 in the nation, opened its ninth NCAA Tourney with a 5-0 win over St. John Fisher before downing Kean and Babson last weekend.  Trinity last played in the NCAA Final Four in 1998 when they blanked Messiah, 4-0, and doubled up Hartwick, 2-1, before falling to Middlebury, 4-1, in the national semifinals at William Smith.  The Bantams' first NCAA Final Four action came in 1993.  Trinity upended Plymouth State, 3-1, and William Smith, 2-1, on penalty strokes, but lost, 2-1, to Cortland State in the semifinals and, 1-0, to College of New Jersey in the third-place match at Mary Washington.  Prior to this fall, Trinity last played in the NCAA Tournament in 2017 when they downed Gwynedd-Mercy, 5-3, in the opening round and Salisbury, 2-1, in the second round before falling, 5-0, at Messiah in the quarterfinals.  Trinity also played in NCAA Tournaments in 1996, 1997, 2008, 2009, and 2016.

Against Kean on Saturday, Trinity received goals from senior captain Caelin Flaherty (Upton, Mass.) and sophomore Katrina Winfield (Wilmington, Del.) less than six minutes apart early in the second half to account for all of the game's scoring.  Sophomore Jackie Frank (Longmeadow, Mass.) assisted on the second goal and classmate Olivia McMichael (Glenside, Pa.) made three saves in goal.  Trinity senior captain Christine Taylor (Westport, Conn.) scored the game-winning goal on a penalty stroke 3:24 into the fourth quarter for the game-winner at Babson Sunday.  Winfield fed rookie back Isabella Deveney (Westport, Conn.) for the second marker and McMichael had two saves.  The Bantam defense held Kean and Babson, which had scored 100 goals this fall entering Sunday, to just five shots on goal for the weekend.  Winfield has a team-high three goals and an assist for seven points in the NCAA Tournament, while Flaherty and Taylor have both scored twice, and Frank has two assists.  McMichael has been stellar in her three NCAA games with seven saves and no goals allowed.

Flaherty is one of the top finishers in the nation with 20 goals and five assists this autumn, while Frank adds 13 goals and four assists for 30 points.  Winfield has four goals and a team-high seven assists, senior captain forward India Shay (Southborough, Mass.) has six goals and two assists, and Taylor adds five goals and a pair of assists to give the Bantams five double-digit scorers.  McMichael has 52 saves for an .800 save percentage and a 0.96 GAA in the cage, playing behind Trinity's steady defense that includes Deveney, junior Elle Fair (Westport, Conn.), and sophomore Molly King (Canton, Mass.), who have yielded just 142 shots this fall.  The Bantams have benefited from a consistent starting lineup throughout the fall with eight players starting in all 19 contests, including the whole back line and midfielders Riley Nichols (Austin, Texas) and Kylie Tierney (Garden City, N.Y.).  Senior captain Meghan Evans (Hooksett, N.H.) has played in 19 games with 15 starts and rookie Ashley Zigler (Falls Church, Va.) has played in all 20 games for the Bantam offense.  Flaherty was named to the 2021 All-NESCAC First Team, and both Frank and Taylor graced the All-NESCAC Second Team.