Women's Lacrosse takes NESCAC by Storm, Again

Author: Zach Foster

This past Wednesday, the Middlebury women's lacrosse team displayed both the grace and efficiency that is necessary in the art of proper "cow-tipping." In a match-up of the two remaining undefeated NESCAC teams, the top ranked Panthers traveled to Williamstown to face the sixth-ranked Williams Ephs.
Early on, it was apparent that the level of play was remarkably even, a feeling which the Middlebury squad had not experienced all season long. While Middlebury struck first with a goal from co-captain Kristin Hanley '03 four minutes into the contest, Williams answered right back with a tally of their own. Such back-and-forth play continued when Char Glessner '03 recorded her first goal, but was quickly answered by the Ephs, who appeared to be up to the task.
However, this would be the last glimpse of hope for Williams as the National Champions rattled off a string of five goals to close out the first half. Glessner found the net twice more in the half to complete the hat-trick, while being accompanied offensively by Meg Bonney '03 (two first half goals) and Ali Perencevich '06.
Glessner continued her relentless attack to open the second half, scoring four minutes in to push the lead to six. But similar to the beginning of the game, the Ephs countered with a goal of their own to show some life once more. Unfortunately, such signs of perseverance quickly waned, and instantly shifted back to the Panthers, who went on another four goal run and simply never looked back.
Said Co-captain Kate Perine '03, "Basically in the second half Hanley and company ran a clinic on the Williams defense, powering in 10 goals." The Middlebury attack swarmed the Williams net, continuing to apply unmatched pressure while overwhelming Eph goaltender Abi Jackson with 27 shots on goal. Williams had 10 shots.
On the other side of the field, the Middlebury zone defense faced its most intense pressure to date, but was simply not intimidated by the rival's attack. Perine played one of her strongest games of the season defensively, knocking players off the ball and scooping quick ground balls out of harm's way. Between the pipes, Sarah Grenert '04 showed once again that she is virtually unbeatable, saving six shots in the victory. Such a solid defensive effort opened the doors for the unwavering Middlebury offense to explode for 17 goals, six of which came from Glessner, five from Bonney, two from Hanley (who also had five assists), and one each from Perencevich, Dalton Cox '03, Sydney Atkins '05 and Elizabeth Renehan '06.
Said Hanley, "We had beautiful goal after beautiful goal and our defense pressured well and played clean tight defense." Hanley concluded that, "Overall it was the best win of the season."
Middlebury 17, Williams 4. So much for being evenly matched.
After the victory, the Panthers returned home to face Bates in the regular season finale. Just 30 seconds into the contest, Perencevich found the net to open the scoring. After that, Hanley took over. First, the Panther superstar scored a goal of her own, followed by two consecutive assists both to teammate Nuala O'Donohoe '04. While Bates provided few substantial threats to the Middlebury goal, the Panthers continued to pour it on, scoring seven more times in the half to take an 11-2 advantage going into the locker room. In the midst of this onslaught was a special moment for Hanley, who recorded her historic 100th assist on a goal scored by Glessner.
The second half was much of the same story as the Panthers put a barrage of shots on goal (39 shots in the game) and converted the first six goals of the half to put the game away. While Bates recorded the last five goals of the game, it was too little too late, as they fell to the hosts 17-7.
Along with her milestone in the first half, Hanley finished the game with six assists, pushing her season total to 37, breaking her own single-season record set last season. Also in the victory, Glessner scored four times and assisted on another, pushing her season point total to 236, placing her second in school history (Amy DiAdamo '97 has 347 points from 1994-1997). Glessner was accompanied by nine other Panther scorers in the victory, notably, two apiece from O'Donohoe, Bonney, Beth Seeley '05, Cox and Perencevich.
The win not only puts the cap on another undefeated regular season, pushing the Panther winning streak to 46, but also secures Middlebury a first round bye in the NESCAC tournament. The NESCAC champions will host both the semifinals and finals of the tournament for the third straight year. In the final four, the Middlebury women will face Colby, whom the Panthers soundly defeated in the season opener, 17-7. In the other semifinal game, Williams will face Amherst, which makes up the identical match ups as last year's tournament, won by Middlebury.
Before the start of the weekend tournament, the Panthers will test their skills against an accomplished Dartmouth (Division 1) team, in a scrimmage which Perine said, "will help us to clearly identify our weaknesses as we approach the tournament phase of our season."