Hartford, Conn. – The Trinity College field hockey team finished the 2018 season with a 12-5 record and 6-4 mark in New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) play, to earn the No. 5 seed in the conference tournament. The Bantams defeated No. 4-seed Hamilton, 2-0, in the quarterfinals before falling to top-ranked Middlebury, 1-0, in the semifinals. Despite the team's success this fall, Trinity missed out on a berth to the NCAA Tournament, but saw a handful of great performances that should carry momentum into next season where the team will certainly compete for the league crown once again.
Trinity started the year with a 2-0 victory over Smith College before dropping the following two games, 1-0 at Williams and 2-0 at Hamilton. Despite the setbacks, the Bantams responded strong, winning their next eight games, seven of which came via shutouts. Trinity defeated Colby College, 2-0, followed by a 4-0, blanking of Connecticut College in late-September to improve to 4-2. Against the Camels, rookie Caelin Flaherty (Upton, Mass.) recorded her first career goal while juniors Nicole Quinlan (Duxbury, Mass.) and Jordan Ragland (Westport, Conn.) and sophomore Kendall Brown (Greenwich, Conn.) each also tallied scores.
Senior co-captain Chandler Solimine (Pelham, N.Y.) recorded a hat-trick in a 4-0 victory over Bates on September 29, before the Bantams posted 5-0 victory over UNE the following day. Solimine scored twice more, along with Flaherty and sophomore Caroline Fisher (Kennett Square, Pa.), in a 4-0 shutout over in-state NESCAC rival Wesleyan University as the team improved to 7-2 on the year and 4-2 in conference. Trinity's streak of shutouts ended at six when it defeated Bowdoin, but allowed a single goal. The Bantams thrashed Springfield College, 6-0, behind six first-half goals, to improve to 9-2 overall as the team eyed the home-stretch of the regular season.
The Bantams suffered a pair of losses both on the road, at Middlebury and at Tufts, before responding with back-to-back wins to close out the regular season. Trinity clobbered Wellesley, 6-0, before locking up the No. 5-seed in the NESCAC Tournament with a 2-0 victory over Amherst on the back of goals by Solimine and Quinlan. In the victory over the Blue, senior goalkeeper Lori Berger (Scottsdale, Ariz.) recorded her ninth shutout of the season, setting a new program record for most clean slates in a single season.
The Bantams traveled to Clinton, N.Y. to take on the Continentals in the NESCAC Quarterfinals for the second year in a row, Trinity's 13th consecutive appearance in the post-season tournament. The team defeated the hosts, 2-0, thanks to goals by Brown and Quinlan, and six saves in the cage by Berger.
Trinity advanced to the NESCAC Semifinals for the seventh time in program history, facing a familiar foe in Middlebury. The Bantams gave up a first half goal to the Panthers which proved to be the difference, as the team's season ended in Vermont. The team narrowly missed out on an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament just a year removed from reaching the regional finals.
The Bantams saw plenty of great individual performances this fall. Brown finished second on the team with 22 points on 10 goals and two assists, while Fisher scored seven times with four assists for 18 points. Quinlan also finished with double-digit points, scoring five times and adding four assists for 14 points, while junior Caroline Curtin (Andover, Mass.) finished among the best in the NESCAC in assists (10, T4th in conference) and added a goal as well.
Solimine and Berger capped off impressive collegiate careers with numerous post-season awards. Solimine was named the NESCAC 2018 Field Hockey Offensive Player of the Year, and joined Berger on the All-NESCAC First Team, while both were named to the National Field Hockey Coaches Association (NFHCA) All-New England West Region First Team. Solimine makes her third appearance on both squads, while Berger repeats on the all-league team and moves up to the All-New England First Team after earning second team honors a year ago. Solimine led the Bantams in scoring with 32 points (4th in NESCAC) on 12 a team-high 12 goals (5th in NESCAC) and eight assists (8th in NESCAC). She scored also led the team in in shots with 119 and game-winning goals with five, playing in all 17 games in her third year as a starter. Berger topped the NESCAC rankings with an .878 save percentage (3rd in nation) and allowed just nine goals to finish second in the league with a Trinity-record 0.53 GAA (8th in nation). Berger made 65 saves and posted a 12-5 record and Trinity-record 10 shutouts in in 1,182 minutes of play in 2018.
Solimine also joined fellow senior co-captain Ally Slowe (Medfield, Mass.) as a 2018 Victory Sports Tours/NFHCA Division III Senior All-Star. Slowe, also a two-time Longstreth/NFHCA Division III All-New England and All-NESCAC player, started all 17 games this year and is the leader of Trinity's defense that held opponents to a meager 0.53 goals per game. She finished with seven points this fall on a pair of goals and three assists.
The squad also had a successful year in academia as Quinlan, Curtin, Fisher, senior Jenna Behan (West Hartford, Conn.), juniors Cara Bradley (East Lyme, Conn.) and Olivia Hoyda (Darien, Conn.), sophomores Bailey Cunningham (Cheshire, Conn.), Julie Roche (Cheshire, Conn.) and Katherine Devanney (Andover, Mass.) were all named to the NESCAC All-Academic Team thanks to their hard work in the classroom. Hoyda represented the team on the NESCAC All-Sportsmanship Team as well.
This fall marked the final campaigns for Behan, Berger, Slowe and Solimine. This year’s group has been a part of Trinity teams that have reached the NESCAC Championship Tournament three times, including one NESCAC Championship game, two-straight NCAA Tournaments, including last year’s quarterfinal run, and has been a part of numerous volunteer efforts around campus and in the greater Trinity community.
