Field hockey stifles strong Skidmore offense Middlebury sticks with it, pulls out a win over Wesleyan

Author: Jeff Patterson

At approximately 3:33 p.m. on a sunny September Sunday, members of the Middlebury field hockey team were catching up on sleep as they were chauffeured from Connecticut back to Vermont. Only hours before they were playing a different kind of catch up.

?Down a goal to Wesleyan at halftime, the women in blue peppered Cardinals' goalie Breen McDonald until they were blue in the face and McDonald was black and blue under her pads. In the end, though, it resulted in a blue ribbon, in the form of a 2-1 win.

The blueprints for the second-half comeback were built at the halftime break.

"At halftime we just decided we needed to pick it up," said co-captain Reid Berrien '08. "We were playing a little flat in the first half and knew we could play better. We really came together in the second half and I think we had possession for 90 percent of the half."

Middlebury took possession of the game when Marnie Rowe '08.5 scored her second goal of the season midway through the second half. Heather McCormack '10 followed, putting home the game winner with 4:22 remaining.

"There was a shot from the top of the circle, and the goalie came out pretty far," said McCormack. "She made a save, but the ball ended up behind her. I just backhanded it in the goal."

The Panthers scored plenty of goals earlier in the week as they beat Skidmore 7-2. Berrien tallied three goals on only three shots and set up Sarah Bryan's '10 first-half goal as well as Madeline MacMillan's '10 first goal of the season.

Caitlin Pentifallo '09 was spectacular in goal as she made 12 saves. Skidmore had more shots on goal, more penalty corners and more game-experience coming into the match-up, but Middlebury came out with more goals.

Coach Katherine DeLorenzo's preseason formation change, which adds an extra attacker, sure seems to be paying off. Middlebury's seven goals against Skidmore was much more than the one they mustered against the Thoroughbreds last year. Against Wesleyan, too, they only notched one.

This weekend Middlebury has to avoid getting its record hurt by a couple of black and blue teams from Maine.

"This is a huge weekend for us. Every game we play is important, but this is especially significant," said Berrien. "For the past two years we have been second to Bowdoin and I'm really hoping that will change this weekend. Although our game against Bowdoin has a lot more riding on it, we need to make sure we don't over-look Colby."

"We are glad they are coming to us this year," McCormack said. "We traveled to Maine more than we would have liked last year. Bowdoin is currently undefeated and has not let in a goal, and we are hoping to change that come Sunday."

The Colby game faces off at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 29. The Bowdoin game will commence at noon the following day.