HARTFORD, Conn. - Rookies Annabelle Merkel (Chicago, Ill.) and Jelani Adorno (Tariffville, Conn.) each scored her first career goal, but the visiting Trinity College Bantams suffered their second straight 4-2 loss against the top-ranked Middlebury College Panthers in New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) women's ice hockey action this afternoon. Trinity which lost its season opener to the Panthers by the same score last night, drops to 0-2 overall and in the NESCAC and the Panther are 2-0.  The Bantams visit Manhattanville next on Tuesday at 7 p.m.

Middlebury came out firing and forced Trinity senior goaltender Stephanie Garvis (Plymouth, Minn.) to make three early saves but Trinity responded and put four shots in goal in a two-minute span moments later.  The Panthers broke through with 16:04 expired in the opening stanza. Avery McInerny sent a pass to Britt Nawrocki in the slot who one-timed the feed to make it 1-0.  Middlebury struck again just over a minute later when Cece Ziegler blasted a shot from the top of the left faceoff circle that trickled into the net for the 2-0 lead after one period of action. 

Trinity nearly cut the deficit in half with 5:13 elapsed in the middle frame, but senior Ethel Wilhelmsson (Stockholm, Sweden) sent a shot from the right dot that was barely thwarted by Panther netminder Sophia Will.  The Bantams took advantage of a power play beginning at the 15:39 mark, scoring just 10 seconds after the ensuing faceoff. An initial bid by sophomore Paige Kehoe (Manasquan, N.J.) was stopped by Will, but Merkel was on the right pipe to fire the rebound into the goal to make it 2-1  Trinity had a flurry of attempts late in the period during another power play, but Middlebury killed off the penalty and skate into the locker room with a one-goal edge.

The Panthers increased their advantage to 3-1 just 3:05 into the final stanza. Jenna Letterie dropped the puck into the slot from the goal line as Cat Appleyard skated through and capitalized on the one-timer.  The Bantams cut the deficit to one at 3-2 with 8:28 left in regulation, when Adorno collected a loose puck after a battle near center ice and lifted a shot into the upper right to put the game within reach for the visitors. Trinity managed just a single off-target shot the rest of the way, however, and Letterie made it a 4-2 final score with an empty netter as time expired.  Garvis finished with 16 saves, as the Bantams outshot the Panthers, 27-20. Sophomore Annika Dyczkowski (Milford, Mich.) and Kehoe had Trinity assists.