P A I R O F S I X E S Women's lacrosse team wins sixth consecutive conference crown

Author: Sarah Luehrman

The Panthers captured their sixth straight NESCAC Championship on Sunday right here on Kohn field with a 14-8 victory over Bowdoin College after ending their regular season undefeated in the league.

"We're right where we want to be at this point," says captain Elizabeth Renehan '06, who led the Panthers' offense with four goals on Sunday. In the last 12 games, the Panthers have outscored opponents by nine goals, on average, and the offense averages 15.92 goals each game.

Their regular season culminated in an 11-3 road victory over Amherst on Sunday, April 30 following a 19-11 win against Williams on Kohn Field a few days before.

Both league games came on the heels of big wins at Bates, 13-9, Skidmore, 15-8, and Wesleyan, 18-6.

Middlebury will host the NCAA regionals this coming weekend as they set their sights on the national championship coming up soon. With 14 victories and only one loss, the Panthers have reason to be optimistic. "We're going into this week knowing we still have some things we need to improve on to be at the top of our game next weekend," Renehan commented. "But we're excited."

The rainy Saturday afternoon game on Kohn Field proved highly suspenseful, as Middlebury took on the sixth-seeded Williams in the NESCAC semifinals.

Captain Allison Perencevich '06 tallied twice in the first five minutes of the game, the first two of five goals for her on the day, and was answered each time with a rapid goal from Williams, tying the score at 2-2 with 25 minutes to play.

The Panthers then took off on a four-goal streak, with another from Perencevich, two from Michele Bergofsky '06 and one from Channing Weymouth '06, all in the span of about four minutes. Williams came back with two in a row, but the Middlebury offense stayed ahead of them for the rest of the period, with two rapid goals in the final minute from Perencevich and Kim Walker '07, ending the half with a comfortable 13-8 lead.

A harrowing second half was in store for the Panthers, but; after Bergofsky scored on an assist from Walker, the Ephs embarked on a dramatic comeback with four goals in a row, narrowing the score to 14-12. Perencevich broke the streak, scoring on an assist from Bergofsky, but Williams responded with two more goals.

With five minutes left in the game and a slim 15-14 lead, Weymouth and Perencevich both scored on assists from Claire Edelen '07 to end the game 17-14.

"They were a challenge right to the end," Renehan said of Williams, "as they came within a goal several times."

The Panthers returned to Kohn Field the following day to face fourth-seeded Bowdoin in the finals. "Going into it we knew that they're a fast team like we are," Renehan commented, "and that we were going to have to play smart and really value our possessions."

Indeed, Middlebury managed to stay on top of Bowdoin for the entire game; no goal from the Polar Bears went unanswered by the Panthers.

After a relatively even first half that ended with a close score, 7-5, Bowdoin scored with 20 minutes left to play in the second half to narrow Middlebury's lead to 7-6, to which Liza Humes '07 and Renehan responded in rapid succession with a goal apiece.

The Polar Bears would come no closer to their opponents; in fact, they scored their last goal with 15 minutes left to play, in which the Panthers would tally four times in a row.

Edelen's second goal of the day ended the game at 14-8 with 20 seconds on the clock. Blair Bowie '09 made 15 saves in goal against the Bowdoin offense with the help of a competent defensive squad.

Midfielder Kim Walker '07, was even named NESCAC Player of the Week after the tournament for her total of six goals and two assists over the course of the weekend, not to mention "stellar defense, while earning five draw controls," according to the NESCAC weekly release.

"Everything came together," says Renehan. "It was a pretty big win for us."

The Panthers await the winner of a game between Union College and Eastern College. The team that emerges from that matchup will face the Panthers on Sunday morning in an NCAA regional match on Kohn Field.

Middlebury looks poised and ready to conquer the regional and advance further into national play.