HARTFORD, Conn. - Claudia Vira had a goal and an assist to lead the visiting Middlebury College Panthers to a 3-0 victory over the Trinity College Bantams in New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) women's ice hockey action this evening at Williams Rink in the Koeppel Community Sports Center.  Trinity falls to 6-8-1 overall and 2-6 in the NESCAC with its sixth setback in a row, while the top-ranked Panthers improve to 17-0 overall and 11-0 in the league.  The teams will close out their two-game series in Hartford tomorrow at 4 p.m.  Sophomore goaltender Hannah Leclair (Kensington, Prince Edward Island) kept the Bantams close with 47 saves.

Trinity hung with the Panthers in the first period, putting 12 shots on net, but Middlebury held a 1-0 lead the first break.  Vira scored her goal with just under seven minutes left in the first stanza, converting on an assist by Raia Schluter.  The Panthers peppered Leclair with 35 shots over the next two periods, taking a 2-0 lead on a power-play goal by Jenne Letterie with 3:12 remaining before the final intermission.  Leclair was stellar while Trinity killed off two penalties in the second, making five saves before Letterie's goal made it past. 

Sophomore forward Jenny Guider (Ridgefield, Conn.) nearly cut the Trinity deficit to one when she got behind the last Middlebury defender in transition, but was denied by Panther goalie Caroline Silk with 12 minutes left in the third period.  Middlebury's Madie Leidt added an insurance goal from Vira to make it, 3-0, with 3:01 on the clock.  The Trinity defense blocked 11 shots in front of Leclair and rookie forward Paige Kehoe (Manasquan, N.J.) paced the Bantams with six shots.  Silk finished with 23 saves for the visitors.