NEW LONDON, Conn. – Despite nearly doubling its opponent on shot attempts, the Connecticut College women's ice hockey team fell to Trinity by a 2-0 score in NESCAC action on Tuesday evening at Dayton Arena.
 
After an uneventful first period which saw no goals, one penalty, and a combined nine shots, the pace picked up in the second with the teams combining for 21 shots on target. Senior Melissa Alexander (Bellingham, Mass.) had a point-blank look in the opening minutes for the Camels that the crowd thought went in the net, but the shot was saved by Hannah Leclair and bounced over it. Trinity's Paige Kehoe drove in on the left side shortly afterwards, only to have her wrister stuffed and covered up by junior Abby Wieczorek (Winnetka, Ill.).
 
The Camels had a golden opportunity to get on the board when they went on a 5-on-3 advantage just past the midway point of the second. However, they could not get anything past Leclair during the timeframe. An excellent chance by junior Camille Phelan (Medfield, Mass.) from the right doorstep once the Bantams got one of their players was also stopped, and the game remained scoreless.
 
Trinity (4-0-1, NESCAC 1-0-0) then captured all of the momentum by scoring a go-ahead goal with 1:26 remaining in the second. On an extra opportunity with the Bantams maintaining possession, Anne Levia fired a shot from the left point that was collected and poked in by Stephanie Nevers on the right doorstep of the cage. The play allowed the visitors to take a stunning 1-0 lead after the second.
 
The Camels outshot the Bantams by a 19-3 margin in the third period, but Leclair stood tall the entire time. Alexander evaded defenders and had an opportunistic shot stopped before the midway mark, and senior Natalie Witkowski (Cheshire, Conn.) also had back-to-back shots that she could not bury past the Bantam netminder with just over six minutes left.
 
Down the stretch, Connecticut College called timeout with 1:03 remaining and pulled Wieczorek to try to net the equalizer with an extra skater. Even though the Camels maintained possession for much of the remaining time, Trinity was able to successfully clear the puck and eventually net an insurance marker with just 2.7 seconds remaining to seal the final outcome. Angelica Mushenko fired the puck home from just in front of the blue line to put the game out of reach.
 
Leclair got the hard-earned shutout victory by making 34 saves between the posts for Trinity, while the Camels' Wieczorek stopped 16 shots on the other end of the ice for the Camels.
 
Connecticut College (1-4, NESCAC 0-3) will next visit Worcester State on Friday evening at 7 p.m.