CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — With the game knotted in the fourth quarter, Lily Ives (Chappaqua, N.Y.) battled through a congested field to snatch the ground ball for a behind-the-head and game-winning goal as the Trinity College women's lacrosse team gritted through a tough competition at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on Sunday. The No. 13 Bantams continue on to the NCAA Division III Women's Lacrosse Round of 16 with a 13-5 record, while the No. 23 Engineers ended their season at 16-4. Trinity heads to New England Small College Athletic Conference foe Middlebury College on Saturday, May 20 for th NCAA Regional Semifinals.
Two quick goals by Natalie Miller (Northport, N.Y.) and Grace Denious (Wilton, Conn.) put up Trinity early, 2-0, in the first quarter after Quincy Connell(New Canaan, Conn.) grabbed a ground ball after an MIT turnover set up Miller's opening goal followed by Denious' 14 seconds later. Ashley Thomas snapped the scoring drought for the home team off the side pass from Ellie Rabenold but Caroline Lampert (Wayland, Mass.) netted an insurance goal to maintain the Trinity lead through the first half of the opening quarter. Four straight goal to close out the first stanza propelled the Engineers into a two-score lead.

Molly McGuckin (Darien, Conn.) revved up the offensive in the second quarter with a goal a minute and a half into period off the pass from Brooke Kurtz (Alexandria, Va.) and ignited a three-goal rally. Less than three minutes later, Elle Fair (Westport, Conn.) earned a free position attempt and notched the game-tying goal before McGuckin regained the 6-5 Bantam lead off a free position with 9:30 remaining in the half. Rabenold capitalized on a successful clear to even the score at six apiece followed by Fair's dart off the stick of McGuckin put the Navy & Gold back up going into halftime. With one second on the clock, goalkeeper Alyssa Vitale (Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.) denied a quick shot by MIT to ensure Trinity's 7-6 lead after the first half.

Fair opened the first minutes of the third quarter with a free-position goal to pad the lead by two as Miller tacked on another with 8:57 left on the clock. Across the remainder of the third and the first half of the final quarter, MIT recorded a trio of goals to tie the game 9-9 with 7:57 remaining in regulation. Lampert's free-position goal put Trinity up by one but exactly one minute later, Sydney Pyon retaliated with a successful free position shot to even the score for the fifth time in the contest. With 2:44 on the clock, Ives tallied the game-winner and the defense held MIT to on shot on goal batted away by rookie goalkeeper Ali Macdougall (Southbury, Conn.).

Defensively, the Bantams held the Engineers to multiple scoring droughts and caused 11 turnovers with a team-leading two caused by both Samantha Hark (King of Prussia, Pa.) and Alexa Macaulay (Richmond, Va.). The visitiors dominated in draw controls with 15, while the Engineers had 10.