sportsbriefs

Author: Jeb Burchenal

Women's hockey beats Wesleyan to earn top seed

The women's hockey team wrapped up its impressive regular season this past weekend with a convincing 5-1 victory over fellow NESCAC competitor Wesleyan.

The victory sealed the Panthers undefeated season in NESCAC play and clinched the top seed for the league tournament.

The Panthers jumped out to an early 2-0 lead on first-period goals from Anna McNally '11 - her 19th of the season - and Karen Levin's '08 seventh of the year. The Cardinals fired back in the second period, though, as junior Julia Cohen was able to put a blast from the blue line past keeper Lani Wright '10.

Though this proved to be their only score, it was not for a lack of chances. Wesleyan had a two-man advantage for 1:14 while the score was still 2-1, but could not score the equalizer.

Just seconds after the first penalty expired, Middlebury junior Molly Vitt collected the puck and found herself facing a short handed breakaway. She earned a penalty shot as she was pulled down from behind, but was unable to convert. But Heather McCormack '10 found the back of the net just 17 seconds after the failed attempt to extend the lead to 3-1.

McCormack and Erika Nakamura '09 found the net in the third period to cap off the 5-1 victory. Wright anchored the defense with a solid 16-save effort.

The Panthers have to wait for the results of the first round of the NESCAC tournament before they know who they will play in the semifinals on March 8.


Women's basketball ends season with loss to Tufts

For the second year in a row, the women's basketball opened NESCAC play at Tufts. The Panthers were not able to avenge their first-round knock-out from a year ago, as they fell to the Jumbos, 71-60, on Feb. 23

Though it was closer than the first meeting of these two teams just two weeks ago, it was clear from the start that the Tufts' low-post offense, anchored by Khalilah Ummah, was too much for the Middlebury defense to contain.

Though the hosts never trailed throughout the game, it was a closely contested affair until the very end. The first 10 minutes of the game was a microcosm of the entire game as the Jumbos bolted out to an early 15-4 lead, only to have the Panthers climb back into the game on a run of their own.

Both teams cooled off for the rest of the second half, leading to a 36-28 score at the half. While Ummah put up eight points in the first half, Middlebury's standout guard Emily Johnson '09 outshined her. Johnson put on a shooting clinic in the first 20 minutes, scoring half of the Panther points, while trying to keep her team in the game.

The Pennsylvanian point guard continued her great performance and capped off a 10-2 Panther run to open the second half, which tied the contest at 38-38, by draining one from long distance. Ummah responded with a lay-up on the other end that put the hosts back on top. The Jumbos poured on the next 17 points before the Panthers could respond with a basket of their own. Middlebury did make a late surge that cut the deficit to 11 points, but time expired before they could complete the comeback.

Johnson finished the game with 23 points to lead all scorers, while Lani Young '08 and Katie Fisher '08 also put up double-digit scoring efforts. The Panthers end their season with an above-.500 record of 13-12.