Field Hockey wins seventh straight Red-hot Berrien '08 paces Panthers in NESCAC tournament

Author: Ryan W. Reese

Seven consecutive wins. The streak just became more impressive. The Middlebury women's field hockey team dominated Rensselaer in a 4-1 win during its last regular season contest before diving head-first into the postseason with a 3-0 shutout win over Bates. There was never any doubt in either of these games and the team is strong, stronger than ever.

With an incredible wave of momentum running through the Panthers' veins and stellar play all over the field, these women look solid and determined to make a run during the last two rounds of the NESCAC tournament next weekend.

The regular season finale against Rensselaer was flat-out intimidating. The Panthers had the Red Hawks in an absolute strangle hold from the get-go. Middlebury piled up a remarkable 30 shots on goal while the Red Hawks only managed three throughout the entire game.

The Red Hawks were quite unfortunate in the fact that they caught Reid Berrien '08 at her best. The sophomore goal machine scored a hat trick to move her season total up to an astonishing 13.

Allison Smith '06 knocked in a goal of her own as the quick-footed Connecticut-native sliced through the Red Hawk defense with ease. The amazing passes and set-up abilities of senior Channing Weymouth, who coincidentally leads the Panthers in assists, led to two of the Berrien goals. This deadly pair is only getting better as the season advances and there was little doubt throughout the team that this duo would rock the rest of the NESCAC during the championship tourney.

The news came in later that the Panthers would be facing Bates in the first round of the NESCAC tournament. Only a week earlier, Middlebury handed the Bearcats an embarrassing 8-1 loss.

It is always difficult to play a team more than once over the course of the season, but there was no doubt that the Bearcats would be coming into this contest with fresh memories of a large neon "8" flashing on the visitors' side of their scoreboard.

It took all of one minute and two seconds for the rout to get underway as Berrien, the offensive juggernaut, made good on a beautiful Smith pass in the circle. Then, Smith assisted on an emotionally charged goal by none other than Ashley Lyddane '06. The senior returned to action after a devestating ACL injury took her away from action for all of October.

One more goal was to be had by Middlebury on the day and Berrien was the one to claim it. With two goals on the day, her season total reached a soaring 15. Fifteen goals in 15 games -- not too shabby. Lyddane's presence on the field and Berrien's ridiculous scoring run can only help this Middlebury team that seems to be picking up steam in more ways than one as the NESCAC semifinal approaches.

The Panthers will head up north to the grounds of Bowdoin for the remainder of the championship tournament. They will first play Williams on Saturday, and a win against the Ephs would place the Panthers in Sunday's championship game against either Wesleyan or the homestanding Polar Bears.

There is a good possibility that this year's tourney will come down to a grudge match between Middlebury and Bowdoin. With the Panthers running on all cylinders and motivated with thoughts of avenging an early season double overtime loss, there is little doubt that Sunday's final would be one for the ages.