Panthers’ Season Hanging By A Thread

Despite going on an early 6-0 run in the first half, the third-seeded Middlebury was upset by sixth-seeded Colby this past Saturday, April 26, in the quarterfinals of the NESCAC women’s lacrosse tournament.  This is the second time that Middlebury has lost to the Mules this season, as Middlebury was outscored a week ago 14-11 in a regular-season matchup between the two teams.

Middlebury was first to score on Saturday with Laurel Pascal ’16 netting an unassisted goal two minutes into the game. Her goal initiated a six-goal scoring streak for Middlebury, of which Pascal scored four goals and Katie Ritter ’15 scored two. Colby remained silent on the offensive end until the last seven minutes of the opening half when Mule Sara Miller scored off of a pass from Alex Mintz. Miller’s goal began a late-half Colby run, with the Mules scoring five unanswered goals to make the score 6-5 in favor of Middlebury going into the second half.

Colby continued their run one minute into the second half, with Lindsey McKenna scoring off of a pass from Katharine Eddy to tie the game. Middlebury was able to stop the barrage with a goal from first-year Mary O’Connell ’17.

After another Colby goal from McKenna tied the game at seven, Middlebury was able to gain some traction with goals from Katie Ritter and Megan Griffin ’16.

This effort would not be enough, however, when Mule Sara Miller scored off of a free-position shot and started a four-goal scoring streak that left Colby up 11-9 with 2:18 left in the game. Though a goal from Middlebury’s Liza Herzog ‘14 with two minutes left in the game and a subsequent Middlebury possession gave the Panthers a chance with a minute remaining, they were unable to convert and Colby ran out the clock to win the game.

“We started out strong which is something we’ve been trying to do all season, and we got the ball back when we were down at the end and they were stalling – two amazing accomplishments for us,” said senior defender Hannah Deoul ’14.

Middlebury captain and goalkeeper Alyssa Palomba ’14 finished the day in goal with a save percentage of .352, stopping six of the 17 shots that Colby put on goal.

The Panthers vastly improved their clearing game from their last meeting with Colby, successfully clearing 17 of 21 clears, including all 13 of their attempts in the first half. Middlebury was also outshot on the game by a slight margin of 24-21 and controlled 10 of 21 draws.

Pascal and Ritter led the Panthers, finishing with five and four points respectively. Erin Benotti ’14, Herzog and Pascal each finished with three ground balls, helping the Panthers beat the Mules in the ground ball game by a score of 16-13.

While Colby will travel to Hartford, Conn. to play Trinity in the NESCAC semifinals, the future of Middlebury’s season remains uncertain. With their conference tournament coming to a premature end in the quarterfinal round, the Panthers will have to wait for the NCAA committee’s at-large selections to see if their season will continue in the national tournament.

The NCAA has taken four NESCAC teams each of the past several years, but the Panthers’ spot in that top four is far from assured after upset losses in two of their final three conference games. If they fail to make the top four, or if the committee decides to take only three teams from the conference, it would be the first time since 2010 that Middlebury has failed to qualify for the NCAA tournament.