Trinity Women's Lax Can Complete Perfect Regular Season Friday Night
Hartford, Conn., April 27, 2011 -- The Trinity College women's lacrosse team, coached by Kate Livesay (5th Season, ), will complete an undefeated regular season with a win in its final game of the regular campaign on Friday, April 29 at 6 p.m. against No. 16-ranked Amherst College on Robin L. Sheppard Field. The No. 3-ranked Bantams have already set a College record with 13 consecutive wins to start a season, and have clinched the top seed in the upcoming New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) Championship Tournament for the second straight year with an 8-0 mark in the league. The Bantams were flawless in 1987, going 8-0 in the regular season and won the NIAC Championship title to finish 10-0. Amherst, 9-4 overall and 4-4 in the league, will be playing for the possibility of a home game in the NESCAC Championship Tournament First Round on May 1. The Lord Jeffs downed Trinity, 5-4, last spring at home and have won 11 of the last 13 meetings between the schools. Friday's game will be webcast live on www.trincoll.tv.
Trinity and top-ranked College of New Jersey (16-0) are the last undefeated women's lacrosse teams in NCAA Division III this spring. No NESCAC team has completed an undefeated regular season since Middlebury in 2004 en route to a 19-0 NCAA Championship season. The Bantams have defeated eight teams that were ranked among the top 20 in the nation at the time of the game including a road victory at then-No. 8-ranked Middlebury and a neutral site (Florida) win against then-No. 8-ranked Colby.
The Bantams broke the previous College-record-start of 12-0, set in 1993, with a 14-8 win against then-No. 18-ranked Bates on Saturday, as senior co-captain attacker Rachel Romanowsky (Hampstead, N.H.) had two goals and three assists in the second half to help Trinity turn a 7-7 tie at the half into a 14-8 victory in a steady rain. Trinity outshot Bates, 32-18, and held a 15-to-9 edge on the draw, while senior co-captain midfielder Alisen Urquhart (Redding, Conn.) and sophomore midfielder Megan Leonhard (Summit, N.J.) each scored four four goals and Leonhard added an assist. Romanowsky totaled three goals and four assists, while Urquhart also scooped four ground balls, and junior midfielder Liz Bruno (Andover, Mass.) added a game-high seven draw controls. Sophomore Olivia Whitney (Danvers, Mass.) and junior Gina Dinallo (West Hartford, Conn.) combined for three saves in goal for Trinity.
Romanowsky ranks second in the league in assists with 29 (2.23 per game) and fourth in scoring with 52 points (4.00 per game) to go with her 23 goals. A two-time All-American and the College's all-time assist leader with 90, Romanowsky notched six helpers in an 11-10 win at Middlebury. Leonhard is tied for third in the NESCAC with 34 goals (2.62 per game) and sixth in scoring with 42 points (3.23 per game), while adding eight assists and team-highs of 45 ground balls and 29 draw controls, and Whitney ranks third in the conference with a 7.32 GAA on 72 goals allowed. Six different Bantams have 10 or more points this spring, as Urquhart adds 22 goals and seven assists, sophomore attackers Hadley Duncan (Rye, N.Y.) and Kaitlin Hildebrand (Berwyn, Pa.) boasts 22 goals and one assist and 15 goals and three assists, respectively, and Bruno, also a two-time All-American, has 12 goals and five assists. Leonhard was named the NESCAC Player of the Week once and to the Synapse Sports National Honor Roll twice this season, while Bruno and Romanowsky each graced the Synapse Sports Honor Roll once.
Whitney is 8-0 in goal and has 62 saves for a .463 save percentage, while Dinallo is 5-0 with 11 saves for a .367 save percentage and 19 goals allowed for a 6.63 GAA. Bruno is one of the nation's top defensive midfielders and leads the team in caused turnovers with 28. Senior Emma Lynch (Washington, D.C.), junior Elizabeth Beckler (Potomac, Md.), and rookie Lyndsey Shepard (Hamilton, Mass.) are all solid defensively and each has started all 13 games this spring.
NESCAC Player of the Week information
Synapse Sports National Award information
