Women’s Lacrosse Rebounds with Win

The Middlebury women’s lacrosse team displayed its NESCAC and Division III dominance this past Saturday in Waterville, Maine, in its highly anticipated match up against sixth-ranked Colby College. The women came home with a convincing 14-6 win.

The Panthers came out strong early on in the game, scoring six of their 11 first-half goals within the first seven minutes of game play.

Middlebury’s commanding offensive play was supplemented with impenetrable defensive play, allowing only four shots, all of which were blocked. After a dominant first half, the Panthers experienced a slight lull, letting in three consecutive goals after Ellen Halle’s ’13 goal in the start of the second half. Despite this, Middlebury was able to hold off this late game surge, with goals from Liza Herzog ’14 and Laurel Pascal ’16, and a defensive effort that allowed Colby only three goals in the final minutes of the game.

Halle and Margaret Souther ’13 led the Panthers in points with Halle finishing with four goals and an assist, and Souther finishing with two goals and three assists. Pascal and junior Herzog finished with three goals each, while Chrissy Ritter ’16 and Michaela Colbert ’13 each finished with a goal. Emma Kramer ’13, Alice Pfeifer ’13 and defensemen Catherine Fowler ’15 each finished with an assist in the game.

The Panthers outshot the Mules by a count of 23-6 in the first half. This gap however, was somewhat lessened by the Mules second-half effort to bring the shot count to 30-22 in favor of the Panthers. Middlebury and Colby remained nearly even in the draw game, with Middlebury out-drawing the Mules 12-10. Souther led Middlebury in the ground ball battle, finishing with four of Middlebury’s 19 ground balls, over Colby’s 16 ground balls.

Lindsey Mckenna of Colby led the Mule’s second half effort, scoring the first four of Colby’s six goals in the second half.

Alyssa Palmoba ’14 displayed her dominance in the net, finishing with eight saves and only six goals against.

Given Colby’s high national ranking, this commanding win for Middlebury is evidence that the team is well prepared for NESCAC playoffs which begin next Saturday, April 27. This win comes after the team’s disappointing first loss of the season last Saturday, April 13, against Tufts. With a squad of highly skilled, veteran seniors that continue to lead the team in points every game and a substantial number of prolific young players, the Panthers have the potential to go far both in the NESCAC and national tournament.

Middlebury, who after this game is 12-1 overall and 8-1 in the NESCAC will ended their regular season schedule this Wednesday, April 24th at home against Williams College, who is 8-6 overall and 3-6 in the NESCAC conference.