Bowdoin, Williams Hold Eight of Previous Nine NESCAC Titles

HADLEY, Mass. – Top-seeded Trinity College will continue its pursuit of a first conference title this weekend when the Bantams host the 2009 NESCAC Field Hockey Championship at Sheppard Field in Hartford, Conn. Trinity will have its hands full in Saturday’s first semifinal when it takes on sixth-seeded Bowdoin, which has won each of the last four NESCAC crowns, at 11:00 a.m. The contest will be followed by fifth-seeded Williams facing second-seeded Tufts at 1:30 p.m. The 2009 NESCAC Field Hockey Championship wraps up on Sunday, Nov. 8, with the final set for a 12:00 p.m. start.

Trinity (14-1, 8-1 NESCAC) finished atop the NESCAC standings for the first time in program history this fall. The Bantams knew heading into the final week of their schedule that they would have the number-one seed thanks to 2-1 victories at Tufts on Oct. 17 and over Bowdoin on Oct. 24, however their perfect regular season was ruined with a 1-0 loss to Amherst - the second consecutive year that the Jeffs have defeated the Bantams in the final contest of the conference slate. After falling into an early 1-0 hole against eighth-seeded Connecticut College in the quarterfinals on Sunday, Trinity responded with two goals and edged the Camels by a 2-1 score. The victory put the Bantams in the semifinals for the second year in a row after they advanced out of the first round last November for the first time ever. Statistically this season, Trinity’s offense is fifth in the conference with 2.67 goals per game while the defense ranks third with a 0.79 goals against average. It all starts in net for the Bantams with the play of sophomore goalkeeper Gina Dinallo (West Hartford, Conn.). Dinallo, who has played every minute of every game in goal, sports the league’s best save percentage at .905 and is second in goals against with a 0.79 average, as she has registered five shutouts. On the attack, junior forward Christy Bradley (Wellesley, Mass.) ranks third among all conference players with 29 points, scoring a team-leading 13 goals and contributing three assists.

Standing in the way of Trinity’s quest for a NESCAC title is the team that has more conference championships to their credit than any other, the sixth-seeded Polar Bears of Bowdoin (10-5, 4-5 NESCAC). The two-time defending NCAA champs have won the last four league tournaments and have come away with the championship trophy five times in nine years with an all-time NESCAC playoff record of 15-4 (.789). Last season, Trinity not only defeated Bowdoin for the first time since 1997 but also snapped the Polar Bears’ 31-game winning streak. This year, Bowdoin mounted a furious attack in its lone regular season meeting at Trinity on Oct. 24, out-shooting the Bantams 21-3, however the Polar Bears could not overcome a 2-0 halftime deficit and fell short in a 2-1 final. A 2-0 loss to Tufts in the season finale relegated Bowdoin to sixth - its lowest finish ever - but the Polar Bears bounced back on the road at Amherst with a 3-0 quarterfinal victory. The Polar Bears are ahead of the Bantams in goals scored and allowed this season, as they rank third in goals per game (3.53) and second in goals against (0.71). While no member of the Bowdoin roster has double-digit goal totals in 2009, eight different players have four or more tallies with sophomore Ella Curren (Roxbury, Conn.) recording a team-leading nine markers. Senior Shavonne Lord (Shrewsbury, Mass.) has been the primary set-up person for the Polar Bears, as her eight assists tie her for second in the conference statistics. The tandem look to help their squad past Trinity in what will be the first-ever meeting between the two teams in the postseason.

Second-seeded Tufts (14-1, 8-1 NESCAC) entered 2009 fresh off the best season in program history. The Jumbos finished atop the league standings and reached both the NESCAC and NCAA final for the first time ever in 2008, as they finished the year at 19-2. While Tufts is well on its way to putting another successful season into the record books, there is a sense that the Jumbos have some unfinished business to attend to this weekend. The Jumbos came up just short in their drive for the program’s first conference championship last November, falling to Bowdoin by a 1-0 score. This season, Tufts’ lone loss to Trinity in overtime, 2-1 on Oct. 17, put home field advantage throughout the tournament just out of reach. The setback was the last time that the Jumbos have allowed a goal, as they have outscored their previous four opponents by a 16-0 margin. Tufts punched its ticket to the semifinals for the fourth consecutive year with a 2-0 victory against Wesleyan on Sunday. The Jumbos are leading the league in virtually every major statistical category, averaging 4.20 goals per game, owning a 0.46 goals against average, and are out-scoring opponents by an impressive margin of plus-3.71 goals per game. At the forefront of the Jumbos’ offensive attack is junior forward Tamara Brown (Annandale, Va.). After setting the single-season scoring mark at Tufts last fall, Brown returned to the lineup this season and has proceeded to rewrite the career scoring records for goals and points. Brown currently leads the conference in goals (19), assists (nine), and points (47) heading into Saturday.

Fifth-seeded Williams (6-9, 5-4 NESCAC) proved during the quarterfinals that whatever happened during the regular season doesn’t matter in the postseason. The Ephs opened 2009 with a 4-3 record, as all four victories came against conference foes while all three losses were one-goal setbacks. But Williams didn’t fare so well in the second half of the season, going 1-6 down the stretch and missing out on a home first round contest with a tough 7-1 loss at Middlebury to close out the league schedule. Returning to Middlebury less than 48 hours later, the Ephs regrouped and shocked the Panthers with a 2-1 victory thanks to a late goal from junior Lindsay Davies (Greenwich, Conn.). Williams was a perennial power during the early years of the NESCAC tournament, reaching the final in each of the first six years and winning three conference championships (2001, 2002, 2004). Since falling to Bowdoin in penalty strokes in the 2005 final, though, the Ephs have not participated in the title contest and have advanced to the semifinals only one other time (2007). Saturday’s semifinal match will be two weeks to the day from the last time Williams and Tufts faced one another, a 3-0 decision for the Jumbos in Medford. Overall this fall, the Ephs are ninth among conference teams in goals per game (1.60) and seventh in goals against average (2.00). Scoring has been a committee effort for Williams this year, with 10 different players recording a goal. In net, junior Katrina Tulla (New Canaan, Conn.) has seen all of the action, posting a 2.00 goals against average, a .792 save percentage, and two shutouts.

2009 NESCAC FIELD HOCKEY CHAMPIONSHIP
Semifinals - Saturday, November 7 at Trinity
No. 6 Bowdoin at No. 1 Trinity - 11:00 a.m.
No. 5 Williams vs. No. 2 Tufts - 1:30 p.m.

Championship - Sunday, November 8 at Trinity
Semifinal Winners - 12:00 p.m.