Cross Country
Both the men’s and women’s team claimed second place at NESCACs last year, as well as first and third place for men’s and women’s respectively at the NCAA regional. Men finished eighth at the NCAA championships while the women finished 11th.
Both squads begin their competitive seasons at the Aldrich Invitational hosted by Williams on Saturday, Sept. 14.
After losing All-Americans Addie Tousley ’13 and Jack Davies ’13, two of the most successful runners in program history, Coach Nicole Wilkerson will be looking for returners and first-years alike to step up and fill the gap.
“Right now our greatest weakness is that we do not have a frontrunner, as we have in years past,” captain Sam Craft ’14 said. “Our strength, however, is that our top runners are already running as a tight pack. Our team as a whole is very deep and if we can continue to run as a pack, that will more than make up for our lack of a clear frontrunner.”
NCAA competitors Katie Carlson ’15, Alison Maxwell ’15, Sarah Guth ’15 and Summer Spillane ’15 return for the women while Greg Krathwohl ’14, Nate Sans ’14, Wilder Schaaf ’14 and Sebastian Matt ’16 bring experience to the men’s team.
Under strong leadership from Regional Coach of the Year Nicole Wilkerson, a relatively young team with nine first-year runners looks to emulate its success from 2012.
“As a team, we want to finish at the top of the NESCAC and the New England. We also want to improve on our finish at NCAAs last year,” Craft said.
Field Hockey
It took a goal 75:40 into an overtime loss at the hands of Depauw in the NCAA Regional game at Middlebury to end the 2012 field hockey team’s perfect season. The then number one-ranked Panthers ended with an 18-1 record overall, including a 3-2 shootout win in the NESCAC championship against Bowdoin.
In other words, this year’s Panthers have some big shoes to fill.
Despite losing only four seniors, the team lost some significant contributors. Most notably, starting goalie Madeline Brooks ’13 and leading-scorer Lauren Greer ’13 graduated after successful seasons. Greer in particular led an outstanding campaign, landing All-American honors and being named National Player of the Year.
“[As the] first girl on the top of the formation, she was a true role model for everyone who came after her,” said Mary Claire Eccelsine ’16. “Her absence has been a popular topic of discussion amongst our team simply because we have to develop a new plan to score the goals that Lauren tallied up last year.”
In order to make up for Greer’s 90 points, the Panthers will rely on Katie Theiss ’14 up front and Ellie O’Brien ’14 and Cat Fowler ‘15 in the midfield.
“[O’Brien and Fowler] are the two rocks of our team,” said Eccelsine. “They are both incredibly talented field hockey players and have game sense like I have never seen before.”
Looking ahead to this season, the Panthers have their sights set on the Bowdoin matchup, set for Saturday, Sept. 21.
“We are really excited to keep the tradition alive this season with an undefeated regular season, a NESCAC championship and of course a NCAA win,” said Eccelsine.
Football
Having graduated a number of playmakers on both sides of the line of scrimmage after a 7-1, NESCAC-runner-up 2012 season, the football team enters the 2013 season with a number of holes to fill. That list does not include quarterback, however, as senior captain McCallum Foote ’14 returns for his final season, a year removed from setting virtually every single-season Middlebury passing record. While Foote’s 2012 season was superlative, only one of his top five pass catchers returns in 2013.
Three members of his conference-best offensive line from 2012 also graduated, including First Team All-NESCAC tackle Ryan Moores ’13. The offensive line will be a position to watch this season, bolstered by the tutelage of offensive line coach and 2012 American Football Coaches Association Assistant Coach of the Year Joe Early.
On the outside, meanwhile, wide receivers Brendan Rankowitz ’14 and Matthew Minno ’16 figure to see the majority of Foote’s targets.
“Our offense won’t change much from last year, but where we distribute the ball might change a little bit ... we’ll spread things out a little bit more,” Foote said.
Defensively, Doug Mandigo enters his third season as the defensive coordinator with a unit that made a marked improvement last season, jumping from the conference’s worst scoring defense in 2011 to the third best mark in 2012.
Tim Patricia ’16 is the leader in the middle, returning for his sophomore campaign after totaling the second most tackles in the conference en route to being named Defensive Rookie of the Year in 2012. The Panthers defense features a pair of experienced safeties in Jared Onouye ’14 and Matthew Benedict ’16, who will need to shore up a secondary that will feature a pair of unproven cornerbacks.
On special teams, Mike Dola ’15 returns to handle punting and kicking duties. The Panthers open the season Sept. 21 at Bowdoin.
Golf
The Middlebury men’s and women’s golf team look to build on a strong spring season after promising season openers for both teams. The men look to improve on a third place finish at NESCACs while the women hope they can better their 14 place finish at NCAAs. Both the women’s and men’s best competition will likely come from Williams, as both teams return with strong sides this year.
As well as a strong returning team, the men welcome three first-years in Fitzgerald Bowen ’17, Jacob Dana ’17, and Matt Marra ’17 hoping to make their mark on the program. Last year’s top finishers for the men include Max Alley ’14, Chris Atwood ’14, Rob Donahoe ’14, Eric Laorr ’15, and John Louie ’15.
“We’ve all been playing competitively through the summer so it just takes getting back into the right mindset here at school with the team to play well and win tournament,” Alley said.
The men began their season with a win at the Bowdoin Invitational Tournament on Saturday Sept. 7 and Sunday Sept. 8. The women also began their season this past weekend with a third place finish at the St. Lawrence Invitational.
While the women only welcome one new face, first-year Theodora Yoch ’17, captain Caroline Kenter is still optimistic about her team’s chances and teamwork.
“We lost a great player and a great friend when Keely Levins ’13 graduated in May,” Kenter said. “Since we have such a small team, it’s really important that we’re friends first and teammates second. We’re really excited about Yoch joining us this week and we’re sure she’ll bring a lot to the team.”
Men's Soccer
The Middlebury men’s soccer team looks to improve on last year’s 6-7-1 record despite losing its top goal scorer in Alvand Hajizadeh ’13 and starting goalkeeper Zach Abdu-Glass ’13, amongst a total of 12 departing seniors.
A rash of season-ending injuries and bad luck worked against the Panthers last year, notably Sam Redmond ’15 and Jon Portman ’13. With a few good bounces and good health this year’s squad could surprise the NESCAC.
Senior Ethan Collins ’14 did enough to earn the starting job in net during the preseason.
“He’s worked hard and earned his stripes,” said head coach David Saward.
A handful of first-years also are looking to make an impact this season.
“They better do well,” said Saward. “They’re a very savvy soccer group, and they’re going to get chances to play.”
Adam Batista ’14, Harper Williams ’15, Noah Goss-Woliner ’15, Sam Peisch ’13.5, Graham Knisley ’14 and Deklan Robinson ’16 look to build on strong seasons last year to carry the Panthers squad.
Williams was second on the 2012 team in scoring, while Batista started nine games but was bit by the injury bug. Goss-Woliner started 13 games last year and Saward calls him “Mr. Steady.” Peisch also started 11 games a year ago. Knisley started every game last season, and Robinson led all first-years last year with eight starts.
Saward hopes that a team effort will replace the scoring lost with the departure of top-scorer Hajlzadeh.
“Batista, Peisch, Williams are a pack of midfield players that have got to come up with some goals,” said Saward. “Tyler Smith ’14 moves to forward from his more comfortable position of center back to assist in the offensive attack. First-year Adam Glazer ’17 has the ability to score goals as well. [Glazer] shows a real natural instinct to go to goal … and he can finish,” says Saward.
Women's Soccer
The Middlebury women’s soccer team hopes that its opening loss to Amherst is not an indicator of the season to come, and looks to build on last season when the Panthers went nine games without a loss to begin the year and finished 13-3-1, reaching the NESCAC Quarterfinals and earning an NCAA Regionals berth.
After losing a talented senior class, 11 first-years come in to the team looking to re-enforce the midfield as well as add more goal-scoring opportunities to the side that scored 1.65 goals per game last year. Coach Peter Kim believes that his team is well-balanced and has experience in the most important places.
While the new faces on the team will prove to be valuable in later games, Kim presently sees inexperience as an obstacle.
“We’re young and have to integrate into one team,” said Kim. “We have many players who have never played against NESCAC competition.”
The team is led by veterans Lindsay Kingston ’14, Moria Sloan ’15, and Julia Favorito ’14, who bring composure and experience to a young team. Top scorer Scarlett Kirk ’14 is also looking to add more goals to her name, while Elizabeth Foody ’14 provides steady hands in goal after claiming nine clean sheets last season. Kim hopes that strong upper-class leadership will be a key to his team’s success.
While winning NESCACs is the ultimate goal, Kim has a set of more fundamental expectations for his team.
“We want to play the beautiful game which is difficult to do with new faces, so our first goal is getting up to speed so we’re playing our own style,” Kim said. “We have diligent, hardworking, and intelligent players so we can definitely get there.”
Tennis
The Middlebury men’s tennis team is poised to replicate last year’s winning season with many of its core contributors returning.Last year’s campaign, resulting in a 20-5 team record as well as an NCAA quarterfinal loss to top ranked Claremont, was indisputably a triumph for the Panthers, who seek to build upon a solid foundation. With no incoming first-years, the team is dependent on upperclassmen leadership. Key returnees include Alex Johnston ’14 atfirst singles, as well as Andrew Lebovitz ’14, who teamed up with Johnston in the NCAA doubles tournament. Play for the Middlebury men’s tennis team resumes Sept. 14 with the Middlebury Invitational. The truncated fall season will provide valuable experience for younger players on the team before the championship season begins in the spring.
“The fall is a critical developmental time for the team to make tactical and technical improvements and adjustments,” said men’s head coach Bob Hansen.
The Middlebury women’s tennis team also seeks to duplicate a successful season, which also saw them exit in the NCAA team quarterfinals to fourth-ranked Emory. The women’s team, reaching a ranking ofeighth nationally with a 13-7 record, also sent multiple team members to the NCAA singles championships. However, their success this season will rely more on younger members of the program following several key departures from the team, including Lok Sze Leung, the team’s top player and NCAA Divison III singles champion, who transferred to Northwestern and the graduation of the All-American Doubles pairing of Brittany Faber ’13 and Leah Kepping ’13. In 2013-14 the team will look to underclassmen Ria Gerger ’16 and Margot Marchese ’16 to continue their impressive progression as players as well as a talented first-year class.
“The freshmen are certainly a great class of players, but they been fantastic team players and that is what has been most impressive,” said women’s head coach Mike Morgan.
Volleyball
After a successful preseason, the women’s volleyball team looks to jump off a NESCAC Championship as they begin competition this Friday, Sept. 13 and Saturday, Sept. 14 at the Johnson & Wales tournament.
Their first NESCAC match up will be the following Saturday, Sept. 21 against Colby at home. While another NESCAC championship and a long run in the NCAA tournament are the teams season goals, tri-captain Meg Anderson ’14 sees a short-term goal as beating long-term NESCAC rivals in regular season games.
“We are definitely hoping to repeat our NESCAC championship and to win NCAA regionals. On the way to reaching those goals, we hope to take down some of our league rivals,” said Anderson. “I think we could easily achieve our goals given the level of play I’ve seen in our first two weeks of practices.”
While the women lost six players last year, the addition of four promising first years and the return of several star players have the team’s captains hopeful for the impending season.
“We graduated some good players, but we have many strong returners and first years,” said Anderson. “Overall, the team looks really strong and has great team chemistry that will no doubt help us have an amazing season.”
The team finished last season 23-7, earning their fourth NESCAC Championship, with a 3-0 win over Connecticut College. Their season came to an end in the NCAA regional tournament with a 3-1 loss to third-ranked Clarkson, dashing the team’s hopes of a NCAA Championship. Clarkson went on to the quarterfinals of the tournament, losing to St. Thomas, the team who went on to win the National Championship.
Fall Varsity Sports Preview
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