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Thursday, Mar 28, 2024

Panthers stumble vs. Jumbos, could host NESCAC quaterfinal

Heading into last week’s play, the Middlebury men’s lacrosse team was 10 games into the season, and with their two losses only by a combined three goals, the team looked to be playing some of its best lacrosse with the NESCAC tournament looming in the near future.
This past week saw the Panthers play a pair of home games against Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) on Tuesday and conference arch rival Tufts on Saturday— a good measuring stick for the team’s prowess as the Panthers lost three close games against the Jumbos last season.

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The 10th-ranked Panthers faced off against RPI last Tuesday at Youngman field, and it did not take long for these two offenses to assert themselves. The Panthers went up 2-0 by the 12:46 mark on a pair of goals from Peter Jennings ’12 and David Hild ’11. However, RPI responded with its own 3-0 run in the next 2:36 to grab the lead at 3-2. Erich Pfeffer ’13 then scored to knot the game at 3, before RPI cranked out another three goals to open its largest lead of the day at 6-3. Alex Giammarco ’11 and Andrew Conner ’11 then added a goal each to have the Panthers trailing 6-5 at the end of the first quarter.
After a largely scoreless second quarter, RPI pushed its lead to 7-5 at the 6:15 mark. However, from that point on in the game it was all Panthers as the squad went on a 6-0 run spanning late into the third quarter. RPI scored twice more throughout the course of the game, as the final ended up 13-9.
The aforementioned run, lead almost completely by the Panthers’ leading scorers, is a good example of how dangerous this team can be when it gets on a roll. With points from Tim Cahill ’12, Conner, Mike Giordano ’13 and Hild, the Panthers buried RPI with almost an entire quarter left in the game.
“We have some kids on the team that can really put the ball away,” said Henry Clark ’12. “Hild, Cahill, Conner and Giordano have been threats all season, and it gives our team a lot of confidence when the offense is clicking like that.”
Goalie Ryan Deane ’11.5 is another reason why this team is so formidable, as he made 13 saves against RPI.
“Deane makes saves that other goalies simply aren’t making,” said attackman Jack Balaban ’11. “He has a unique ability to keep us in games even when the rest of the team isn’t playing well, and that’s an extremely valuable asset.”
However, even another strong effort from Deane couldn’t lift the Panthers past Tufts.  Deane made 14 saves and allowed 11 goals as the Panthers fell for the fourth straight time against the Jumbos in the past two years. The Panthers opened the first quarter on a 3-0 run with goals from Pfeffer, Conner and George Curtis ’14. The Jumbos responded with a 3-0 run of their own, but after another Middlebury tally from Giordano, the Panthers led 4-3 after one quarter.
From this point on, the game proved to be back and forth, putting the score at 8-8 with 13:25 remaining in the fourth quarter. However, the Jumbos would shut down the Middlebury offense and score three goals of their own over the last 11:37, making the final 11-8. Despite the loss, Clark sees the game as a bright spot.
“I thought we played very well against tufts, possibly our best game of the year even though we didn’t win,” said Clark. “We’ll look at the film, learn from it, and move on.” Balaban added that the four straight losses to Tufts give the team extra motivation.
“The only effect the Tufts’ loss has is that everybody wants to beat them even more,” said Balaban. “Hopefully we’ll get another shot.”
The Panthers now need a win this Friday against Williams or a Wesleyan loss to clinch home field advantage for the first NESCAC tournament game slated for May 1.


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