sportsbriefs

Author: Jeb Burchenal

Women's hockey ties, then wins on road trip

Women's hockey took to the road this past weekend as it traveled to Amherst and Connecticut College. Last year's runner-up in the NCAA championships, the Panthers entered the weekend on a two-game winning streak. On Friday, Nov. 30 the second-ranked Panthers played the seventh-ranked Lord Jeffs to a 2-2 deadlock, and then on Saturday, Dec. 1 they beat the Camels 2-1.

Against Amherst, Middlebury opened the scoring five minutes into the second period as Nora Bergman '11 banged home a rebound off Ashley Bairos' '10 initial shot.

Amherst turned it around after falling behind and poured on the offensive pressure that forced back-to-back Middlebury penalties. After failing to find the net after four straight minutes of power play, the Lord Jeffs earned their own rebound goal to answer to Bergman's. Less than a minute later, Amherst standout Courtney Hanlon scored to put her team up 2-1.

The lead was short-lived, though, as early in the third period, Middlebury retied the game on a Tania Kenny '08 slap shot from the point. Neither team was able to break the tie in the rest of regulation of the five-minute overtime period.

One night later, the Panthers made their way to New London, Conn. to take on Connecticut College, where they bombarded the Camels with shot after shot en route to a 2-1 road win. The Panthers outshot the Camels 39-20 for the game.

Erika Nakamura '09 scored the first and only goal of the first period off a pass from Randi Dumont '09. The Camels tied it up in the second period on a power-play goal from Caroline Jeffery with seven minutes left to play. Nakamura responded with the game winner, and her second of the game, three minutes later.

The Panthers look to continue their four game unbeaten streak as they take on 3-3 UMass-Boston on Saturday, Dec. 8 at Kenyon Arena.


Both swimming & diving teams fall to Lord Jeffs

Both the men's and women's swimming and diving teams were in action this past weekend at Amherst. Amherst is a perennial swimming and diving powerhouse and finished second overall in NCAAs last season. After a strong start over Connecticut College, both Middlebury teams were hoping to stay unbeaten, but neither could prevail. The men lost by a score of 193-98, while the women kept it a little closer in their 169-129 loss.

Though the teams lost, Middlebury put forth some great individual efforts. For the men, both co-captain Peter Bell '08 and sophomore John Dillon captured two events. Bell won the 100-yard breaststroke (1:01.14) and the 200-yard breaststroke (2:16.74), while Dillon claimed the 100-yard fly (52.82) and 200-yard fly (1:57.46).

For the women, senior standout Marika Ross made two NCAA "B" cuts, while winning one event. Ross won the 100-yard fly in 58.45 seconds and finished in second place in the 200-yard free (1:55.40). Senior Alanna Hanson won both diving events by scoring 220 points on the one-meter with and 237.82 on the three-meter. Also finishing at the top of an event this week was sophomore Katie Soja, with a time of 10:38.38 in the 1000-yard free.

Both teams look to rebound next with as they host the Springfield Pride on Saturday, Dec. 8 at the Natatorium.