HARTFORD, Conn. - First-year attacker
Molly McGuckin (Darien, Conn.) scored six times to lead the Trinity College Bantams to a 19-6 victory over the visiting Hamilton College Continentals in New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) women's lacrosse action this afternoon on Sheppard Field. Trinity, ranked No. 14 in the nation, improves to 10-3 overall, its highest win total since 2018, and 5-3 in the NESCAC with a road game against No. 12-ranked Colby up next on Saturday, April 22. No. 25-ranked Hamilton drops to 4-9 overall and 1-8 in the league with its sixth consecutive setback. Trinity improves to 15-5 all-time against the Continentals.
Trinity led wire-to-wire, as senior tri-captain
Elle Fair (Westport, Conn.) fed McGuckin for the game's first goal just 44 seconds into play and followed with a tally of her own moments later. The teams went back and forth for several minutes in the high-scoring first quarter until the Bantams closed the first frame with back-to-back goals by juniors
Casey Ward (Norwell, Mass.) and
Caitlyn Buermann (West Caldwell, N.J.) to make the score, 7-3, at the first break. The Bantams outscored the Continentals, 3-1, in the second stanza including a player-down goal by rookie
Grace Denious (Wilton, Conn.) in the closing seconds to make it, 10-4, at halftime. Ward opened the third quarter with a goal, McGuckin scored twice in the third, and Denious again beat the clock with a player-up goal as time expired for a 16-5 Bantam lead heading into the fourth frame. Aine Cleary scored for Hamilton 3:19 into the final quarter but Trinity rookie goalie Ali Macdougal (Southbury, Conn.) saved the only Continental shot the rest of the way.
MacDougal and senior
Alyssa Vitale (Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.) combined for three saves, while junior
Quincy Connell (New Canaan, Conn.) added two ground balls and three caused turnovers in a fantastic defensive effort for the home team. First-year
June Trodden (Weston, Mass.) came up with a team-high six draw controls and Buermann added four. Offensively, Ward finished with three goals and one assist, sophomore
Brooke Kurtz (Alexandria, Va.) notched a goal and four assists, and Fair had a goal and two assists. Alana King and Sydney Klepper recorded a goal and an assist each for Hamilton and two Continental goalies combined for nine saves.
