The third-ranked women’s field hockey team extended their winning streak to six, picking up two big conference road wins over the weekend. The Panthers (10-1, 6-1) traveled to Tufts on Saturday, beating the Jumbos 3-0, before heading to Wesleyan on Sunday for another 3-0 victory.
“I think we’ve been really successful [at] getting contributions from so many different areas of the team in different ways,” Assistant Coach Meredith Rowe said. “We’re scoring multiple goals per game and have a defense that is keeping games scoreless until we are able to score at the other end.”
Saturday’s game got off to a slow start, with 15 minutes passing before either team got a shot on goal. Middlebury stepped things up as the first half drew to a close. Off a penalty corner, Grace Jennings ’19 fed Bridget Instrum ’16 who gave the Panthers a 1-0 lead.
The Lady Panthers continued to build momentum in the second half, putting pressure on the Jumbos defense and drawing multiple penalty corners in the first few minutes. At the 52-minute mark, Middlebury increased their lead to 2-0 when Annie Leonard ’18 put in her first of two goals on the day. Jumbo goalkeeper Emily Polinski had come off the line to kick the ball away from the goal, but Audrey Quirk ’18 picked up the loose ball and sent it flying over to Leonard, who put it into the empty net. With just 45 seconds left to play, Leonard added an insurance goal and continued her great offensive performance by netting her second goal of the day, and ninth of the season, to give the Panthers their final 3-0 victory. Middlebury finished with a 13-8 advantage in shots while the Jumbos held a 6-4 advantage in corners. Panther goalie Emily Miller ’17 finished with five saves in the win, while Polinski made eight saves for the Jumbos.
Sunday’s game against Wesleyan got off to a slow start as well as neither team could break through in the first half. Middlebury took nine shots in the first half, but Cardinal goalie Sarah Grundy turned down the seven shots on goal to keep her shutout intact.
Leonard again had a strong offensive effort, assisting the first goal of the day by Shannon Hutteman ’16 in the 56th minute before netting a goal of her own. Less than ten minutes after Hutteman’s goal, Leonard tallied her tenth of the season, when she sent in an unassisted shot to put the Panthers up 2-0. Three minutes later, Instrum contributed to the scoring action by beating Grundy and giving the visitors a 3-0 victory.
Middlebury thoroughly dominated Wesleyan as they held a huge advantage in both shots, 23-1, and penalty corners, 16-5 in Sunday’s game. Panther goalie Miller only needed to put up one save to earn her ninth win and third shutout in ten games.
The Panthers will return to Kohn Field at 2 p.m. on Saturday for the homecoming match-up against NESCAC foe Trinity College.
