MIDDLEBURY, Vt. – The No. 4 seeded Trinity College field hockey team was defeated by top-seeded Middlebury College, 4-0 on Saturday afternoon in the semifinal game of the New England Small College Athletic Conference Championship Tournament. The road loss eliminates the Bantams from the conference tournament while Middlebury advances to the Championship game which will take place tomorrow against No. 3 seeded Bowdoin College. Trinity who is ranked No. 8 nationally, will wait to find out if it earns a bid to the NCAA Tournament when the selection show airs tomorrow evening. 
 
The Bantams had an early opportunity to take the lead when sophomore Molly King carried the ball down the right sideline but was unable to find a teammate to set-up a scoring play. Middlebury put the game's first goal on the board during an extra-player situation when Grace Murphy dished to Meg Fearey who backhanded the ball into the back of the cage at the 19:10 mark, giving the Panthers a 1-0 edge. 
 
Middlebury added to its lead by taking advantage of a penalty corner that Amy Griffin fired into the bottom right corner of the goal in the second quarter. Following the halftime break, the Panthers put their third goal on the board, despite Olivia McMichael's effort to deny the initial shot, Audrey Lazar was there to follow up the rebound for the score. Middlebury tacked on its fourth tally at the 53:50 mark when Sadie LeStage redirected Griffins attempt to give her team the 4-0 lead. 
 
The Panthers outshot Trinity 15-0 and held the advantage in penalty corners at 9-1. McMichael tallied six saves during the contest. She had 30 saves over the Bantams last four games.