Bantams Field Hockey Advances to Quarterfinals

CARLY CAO ’20 STAFF WRITER
Trinity’s field hockey team did not disappoint after being selected to compete in the 2017 NCAA tournament. In the first round, the Bantams faced Gwynedd Mercy University, defeating them 5-3. After advancing to the second round, Trinity had a thrilling overtime win against Salisbury University on Saturday.
Almost five minutes into the first half against Gwynedd Mercy, Trinity’s forward Chandler Solimine ’19 scored the first goal of the game, giving the Bantams a quick lead. Gwynedd Mercy caught up shortly after with two goals scored by Brianna O’Connell and Melissa Russo, ending the first half of the game with Trinity down one goal.
Despite the one goal deficit, Trinity came back to the second half strong. Keeping the pressure high, just seven minutes back into the game Kelcie Finn’18 assisted Kendall Brown’21 in the first goal of the half. Finn then scored again a few minutes later to give the Bantams the lead. Not content with just a one goal lead, Finn took it upon herself to score yet again about ten minutes after, adding to the lead. Defender Alison Slowe’19 found Finn and assisted her in her last goal of the game. With a 5-2 lead by the Bantams, Gwynedd Mercy scrambled for one more goal by Brianna O’Connell, but ultimately failed to get ahead. The game ended with Trinity winning 5-3 and advancing to the second round of the NCAA tournament against Salisbury.
Salisbury started out hot with a goal just five minutes into the game on an Emily Lemanski shot that just snuck past Trinity goalie Lori Berger ‘18. Trinity’s offense stepped up and kept the ball in Salisbury’s zone for most the first half, but failed to score as the Sea Gull defensive line stayed strong, deflecting any chance of official shots on goal.
The pressure remained high in the second half. Salisbury almost scored again but Berger made an impressive dive to save the goal, keeping the score to 0-1. No shots were successful until the last 13 minutes of the game when Nicole Quinlan’20 shot the ball to Finn, but was blocked. However, the blocked ball returned to Quinlan who then passed it to Kendall Brown who finally ripped the ball into the goal, evening out the score to 1-1. Salisbury’s Natalie Wilkinson attempted to score with the remaining few minutes left of the game, but Berger calmly kicked the ball away, leading the game to go into overtime.
Salisbury came back to overtime aggressively but Berger continued to make swift saves. Finn, in possession of the ball, found Solimine and the duo connected down the field and Solimine fired the game winning goal past Salisbury’s goalie. After winning the second round of the NCAA tournament, the Bantams advance to the quarterfinals against Messiah College, hoping to continue their march towards a National Championship.