Zigler Goal Gives Trinity Field Hockey Big Win At No. 7-Ranked Williams

Williamstown, Mass. – First-year Ashley Zigler (Falls Church, Va.) scored the game's only goal to give the visiting Trinity College Bantams a 1-0 victory over the Williams College Ephs in New England Small Athletic Conference (NESCAC) field hockey action this afternoon.  Trinity, ranked No. 13 in the nation, remains undefeated at 6-0 overall and 2-0 against NESCAC competition.  No. 7-ranked Williams drops to 5-2 overall and 1-2 in NESCAC play. The Bantams, off to their best start since 2009, will next travel to Middletown on Tuesday for a 6 p,m, match against conference rival Wesleyan.  The Ephs will travel to New Jersey tomorrow to face off against Montclair State at 2 p.m.

Williams kept Trinity on the defensive early on

with eight first-half corners but were unable to convert a single opportunity thanks in part to junior goalie Emma Cropper's (Norwalk, Conn.) multiple efforts to sweep the ball to safety. Instead, it was Trinity who converted on their lone corner with 9:56 remaining in the first half. Zigler recovered the ball just in front of the net following a blocked shot from Christine Taylor (Westport, Conn.) before quickly forcing it past Williams goalie Carson Stephenson to put the Bantams up 1-0. 

Williams continued to get ample scoring chances in the second half, finishing the day with 13 corners and nine shots compared to one corner and four shots for the Bantams. Great defensive play from the Bantams kept Williams out of the net in the second half, as Caelin Flaherty (Upton, Mass.) broke up a dangerous shot attempt on one corner in the third quarter and sophomore Kylie Tierney (Garden City, N.Y.) deflected a shot from Elizabeth Welch to force an attempt wide on another corner in the fourth quarter. Cropper finished the day with two saves, and sophomore backstop Olivia McMichael (Glenside, Pa.), who relieved her in the second half, had three saves. Stephenson saved one of two shots, and Gates Tenerowicz, who replaced her in the second half, had one save for the Ephs.