HARTFORD, Conn. – The Trinity College Women's Lacrosse team collected a 10-8 victory over visiting Bowdoin College, 10-8, in a New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) clash to open the 2024 season at Robin L. Sheppard Field Saturday afternoon. The Bantams improve to 1-0 on the season, and 1-0 in conference play, while Bowdoin drops to 0-1 in the NESCAC and 0-1 overall.
Sophomore Molly McGuckin paced the Bantams offense with a team-high four goals with four groundballs. Senior Natalie Miller netted a pair of goals, while sophomore Grace Denious added a goal and two assists. Senior Casey Ward and junior Caroline Lally each added a goal, while senior Caroline Lampert dished out a game-high three assists in the win.
Senior Sophia Sudano powered the Polar Bears attack with a game-high six goals. Junior Lauren Burke chipped in a goal and an assist, and sophomore Ellie Fabbro recorded a goal for Bowdoin.
The Bantams wasted little time getting on the scoreboard as McGuckin deposited her first goal of the day off a feed from Denious in the opening minute of play. Burke evened the score with a free-position strike with 6:57 remaining in the first period. In the final five minutes of the frame, Trinity erupted with four straight goals, including a pair from McGuckin to take a 5-1 lead.
Sudano registered a pair of goals in a minute span to trim the gap to 5-3 with 8:15 on the clock. McGuckin halted the Bowdoin run with a tally in the 26th minute, and then Lampert found Buermann on a run to the net, where she snuck a shot past Bowdoin junior goalkeeper Sophie Brett in the final second of action to give Trinity a 7-3 lead heading into the break.
Lampert served as the distributor on the next two Bantams goals, finding Lally for a goal at the 9:28 mark of the third period, followed by a connection with Miller less than a minute later to stake the Bantams to a 9-3 advantage. Sudano netted a pair of free-position goals for Bowdoin to close out the third period with the Polar Bears trailing 9-5 entering the final period.
Sudano potted another goal in the opening minute of the fourth to close the gap to 9-6 with 14:46 to play. Denious broke up the Polar Bears run with a goal at the 12:39 mark, but Bowdoin answered with a goal from Fabbro to make it a 10-7 game. Sudano added a late free-position goal, but the Bantams defense held firm down the stretch to secure the 10-8 victory.
The Polar Bears outshot the Bantams, 31-21, and edged the Bantams on draw controls, 11-10, during the contest. Trinity sophomore Ali Macdougall made a game-high 13 saves in the win, while Brett stopped five shots for Bowdoin.
The Bantams will be back in action when they travel to Tufts University for a NESCAC tilt Saturday at Noon.
TRINITY ATHLETICS
