Trinity Women's Ice Hockey Hosts Hamilton For 2nd Straight Year In NESCAC Quarters
Hartford, Conn., Feb. 23, 2012 – The Trinity College women's ice hockey team will host the Hamilton College Continentals on Saturday, Feb. 25 at 3 p.m. in the quarterfinal round of the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) Championship Tournament at Williams Rink in the Koeppel Community Sports Center. Trinity is the No. 4 seed in the NESCAC Tournament, after posting a 14-10 overall record and finishing in fourth place in the league with a conference mark of 9-7. The Bantams, coached Carson Duggan (1st Season), qualified for the league tourney for the sixth year in a row. Trinity will be hosting a post-season game for the fifth consecutive season and welcomes the Continentals in the quarterfinals for the second straight time. No. 5-seeded Hamilton finished the year 10-13-1 overall and 7-9 in the league, including 3-1 and 3-0 losses at Trinity on January 20 and 21. Tickets will be $3 for adults and $1 for students. The winner of the NESCAC Championship Tournament will determine the league's automatic qualifier for the NCAA Division III Championship Tournament. Top-seeded Middlebury (18-3-3, 14-2) hosts No. 8-seeded Colby (6-16-2, 3-12-1), No. 2-seeded Amherst (19-4-1, 13-2-1) hosts No. 7-seeded Connecticut College (11-11-2, 5-10-1) and No. 3-seeded Bowdoin (11-9-4, 9-6-1) hosts No. 5-seeded Williams (11-13, 7-9) in the other quarterfinal games Saturday.
Trinity recovered valiantly from a 1-6 record in the fall semester, that included two road setbacks at No. 4-ranked Middlebury and a 3-2 defeat against top-ranked Rochester Tech, to win 10 of its 11 games in January. The Bantams stumbled in Maine with a pair of losses at Bowdoin, split the next weekend at No. 3-ranked Amherst, and closed the regular season with a home-and-home sweep against Wesleyan. Sophomore forward Lauren Glynn (Arlington, Mass.) scored two goals in a 4-1 win at Wesleyan on Friday that clinched home ice for the Bantams this weekend, while senior forward Payson Sword (Princeton, N.J.) totaled a goal and two assists in the two Wesleyan games. Sophomore Alexa Pujol (New Canaan, Conn.) made 28 saves in net on Friday, and classmate Kristen Maxwell (Nashville, Tenn.) had 19 stops in a 3-0 shutout in Saturday's regular season finale at home for the Bantams.
Trinity ranks second in the league killing penalties with an 88.5 percentage, while Pujol is second in the NESCAC in save percentage at .933 and fourth in GAA at 1.77. Glynn ranks sixth in the conference in game-winning goals with three and rookie Samantha Edelson (Northbrook, Ill.) is the 10th-leading scorer among defenders with 11 points on three goals and eight assists. Sword leads the Bantam offense with five goals and a team-high 11 assists for 16 points, while Glynn has a team-high eight goals and four helpers for 12 points, and first-year forward Lucy Robinson (Toronto, Ontario) adds four goals and eight assists for 12 points.
Hamilton, coached by Brendon Knight (6th Season), returns to the NESCAC Tournament for the 11th straight year, having edged Williams for the No. 5 seed due to a better record against the league's top-four teams. Junior forward Katie Zimmerman (Plymouth, Mich.) leads the Continentals in scoring with 17 goals and eight assists, while junior forward Abby Runyon (Fairport, N.Y.) has five goals and 11 helpers, and junior Rebecca Hazlett (Grosse Pointe Park, Mich.) has 488 saves for a .907 save percentage and a 2.66 GAA with three shutouts in the Hamilton net.