Hartford, Conn. - The Trinity College field hockey team, led by Head Coach Anne Parmenter (21st Season), has announced its schedule for the 2021 season. The Bantams are excited to resume varsity competition, after spending the 2020-21 academic year practicing in the fall and practicing and playing a handful of scrimmages in the spring due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Trinity has 15 games lined up, including 10 games in the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC), five highly-competitive non-league games, and eight contests in front of the home crowd in Hartford.
In November, Trinity will hosts the NCAA Division III Championship on Robin L. Sheppard Field for the first time with the semifinals taking place on two semifinals games to take place on Saturday, November 21 and the NCAA Division III Championship game slated for Sunday, November 21. Sheppard Field is undergoing a major renovation this summer in a project that includes new bleachers, a new press box, and other enhancements.
"I am excited about the potential benefits that the addition of our new press box and bleachers at Sheppard Field will have for our student-athletes," said Parmenter. "I am looking forward to hosting the 2021 NCAA Division III Final Four, where the college can showcase its outstanding athletic facilities."
The Bantams, who were 8-8 and made their 14th consecutive appearance in the NESCAC Championship Tournament in 2019, will open up the season with a pair of road tilts. Trinity travels to New Hampshire to face Keene State in its season opener on September 7 and faces Smith in Northampton, Massachusetts on September 10, before welcoming Endicott in the Bantams' home opener on September 12. The Bantams open NESCAC play at home against Colby on September 18 and host Springfield on September 21, followed by three consecutive NESCAC road contests over the next two weeks at Williams (September 25), Wesleyan (September 28), and Bowdoin (October 2). Trinity returns to Hartford for a Homecoming Weekend matchup on October 3 versus league rival Bates.
Trinity continues a three-game home stretch in the conference against Tufts on October 9 and Connecticut Connecticut College on October 12. The Bantams head to Upstate New York on October 16 to play Hamilton, but turn around for a non-conference home game the next game against New England. Trinity has its final home game of the 2021 regular season on October 23 against NESCAC foe Middlebury and closes out the year at Amherst College on October 26. Post-season play begins for those teams that qualify on October 30. Three Trinity opponents participated in the 2019 NCAA Tournament and the Bantam slate includes six of the top 20 teams in the final National Field Hockey Coaches Association (NFHCA) poll from the autumn of 2019.
