A go-ahead blast from Cat Fowler ’15 in the final minute of play gave the Middlebury women’s field hockey team its third consecutive NESCAC title, as the Panthers defeated top-seed Bowdoin 2-1 in the conference championship game on Sunday, Nov. 9 in Brunswick, Maine.
The Panthers, who defeated Trinity 3-1 in Saturday’s semifinal to reach Sunday’s final for the fourth consecutive year, claimed the NESCAC’s automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, which begins play this week.
The weekend for the second-seeded Panthers began on Saturday afternoon with a semifinal matchup against the third-seeded Trinity Bantams. A strong Trinity defense proved no problem for Middlebury’s top scorer Fowler, who was able to score unassisted just five minutes into play. The Panthers scored again with a goal by Jillian Green ’16 who was able to capitalize off of an initial shot by teammate Olivia Jurkowitz ’17.
Trinity managed to get in on the scoring with a goal by leading scorer Kelcie Finn at the 24-minute mark. However, their offensive pressure in the beginning of the second half could not translate into any more goals for the Bantams.
Fowler secured the win with a goal 40 minutes into the game coming off of a corner caused by a yellow card distributed to the Bantams goalie. This goal marked Fowler’s 18th of the season, making her the third-highest goalscorer in the NESCAC.
Overall Middlebury had 15 shots, of which eight went on goal, while Trinity had seven shots with four on goal. Middlebury received nine penalty corners, capitalizing on one of them, while the Bantams received four.
The NESCAC championship game the following day marked the fourth consecutive year that Middlebury and Bowdoin have met in the conference title game. The Panthers looked to continue their current two-title streak against Bowdoin after last falling to the Polar Bears back in 2011, the first year for the current seniors. With this long-enduring rivalry and tension in the air, the two teams faced each other at noon on Ryan Field.
Bowdoin all-conference selection Rachel Kennedy scored the first goal of the game in the tenth minute to cause an early advantage for the Polar Bears.
The Panthers worked tirelessly in the attacking end and capitalized off of their first corner 31 minutes into play. Hollis Perticone ’18 jumped on an opportunity to score off of a rebound after a Bowdoin midfielder stopped the ball on the goal line. The teams went into halftime tied with one goal each.
The two talented and evenly matched teams played back and forth, both with promising scoring opportunities, but to no avail. Middlebury worked the ball around the goalie box off of multiple penalty corners but with no change in score. Panther goalie Emily Knapp ’15 made a crucial charging save to keep the Polar Bears from netting a game-winning goal in the final nine minutes of play.
It appeared that the NESCAC championship would enter overtime play. This outlook quickly changed when with less than two minutes left to play, Middlebury earned a corner taken by Alyssa DiMaio ’15. DiMaio inserted the ball into the box, finding the stick of teammate Fowler, who fired a shot through the Polar Bear defense and past the goalie to score the game winner with just 26 seconds remaining in regulation time.
The Panthers stormed the field in celebration as time ran out. Middlebury led the game statistically with seven shots on goal to Bowdoin’s two and five penalty corners against two for the Polar Bears.
The goal earned Fowler NESCAC Player of the Week recognition and puts her second in the program’s all-time rankings for career points overall. Such honors will likely place her as a prominent contender for National Player of the Year.
The Panthers earned the automatic bid into the Division-III NCAA tournament and will host a regional round this coming weekend with games on both Saturday and Sunday.
The victor of Sunday’s regional final will earn a spot to the national semifinals in Lexington, VA on Saturday Nov. 23. The Panthers have made 12 consecutive appearances in NCAA tournament play and 15 overall, and look to capitalize on their momentum as they look to launch a deep run into the national tournament.
