HARTFORD, Conn. - The Trinity College women's ice hockey team, which finished the 2022-23 regular season with a 12-10-1 record and tied with Connecticut College and Williams for sixth place in the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) with a 6-9-1 league mark, has qualified for the league championship for the 16th time and will visit No. 3-seeded Colby College (16-6-1, 11-4-1) on Saturday, February 25 at 3 p.m. in the NESCAC Quarterfinals. The Bantams, which earned the No. 6 seed on tiebreaking rules, are seeking their seventh semifinal appearance and second conference title overall. Coached by Keith Maurice (8th Season), Trinity won the NESCAC Championship in 2015.

The winner of the NESCAC Championship Tournament will determine the league's automatic qualifier for the NCAA Division III Championship Tournament. Top-seeded Amherst (21-3, 13-3) hosts No. 8-seeded Wesleyan (9-14-1, 3-13), No. 2-seeded Hamilton (18-4-2, 12-3-1) hosts No. 7-seeded Williams (11-11-1, 6-9-1), and No. 4-seeded Middlebury (15-6-3, 10-4-2) hosts No. 5-seeded Connecticut College (12-11-1, 6-9-1) in the other quarterfinal games this weekend. The Trinity versus Colby game is a rematch of the 2022 quarterfinals.  Colby swept the regular season series versus the Bantams, 2-0 and 9-3, on January 27-28 in Waterville, Maine.  The 2022 quarterfinal game, which the Mules won, 3-1, marks the lone meeting between the two teams in the NESCAC Tournament.  Trinity's last semifinal appearance was in 2015.

Trinity's strength has been its defense, led by junior goaltender Hannah Leclair (Kensington, Prince Edward Island) averages over 25 saves per game with a 1.62 GAA and a .941 save percentage with six shutouts (7th in nation).  Senior captain Claudia Capone (Foxboro, Mass.) and junior Annika Dyczkowski (Milford, Mich.) are along the veterans on the deep Bantam back line that also includes fantastic rookies Jealani Adorno (Tariffville, Conn.), Lillian Cassidy (Aspen, Colo.), and Annabelle Merkel (Chicago, Ill.) who have each played in every game this winter.  Senior forward Ethel Wilhelmsson (Stockholm, Sweden) leads Trinity in goals with eight and adds a pair of assists, while junior forward Jenny Guider (Ridgefield, Conn.) is Trinity's top scorer with seven goals and eight assists for 15 points, and senior forward Stephanie Nevers (West Suffield, Conn.) has six goals and three helpers.  Adorno is an offensive threat as well with six goals and eight assists for 14 points.