The Middlebury women’s lacrosse team took the field and performed well in an important conference matchup, snagging a 15-8 road win at Wesleyan on the afternoon of Saturday, March 14. The ninth-ranked Panthers got off the bus ready to play and ran away with a 6-1 lead in the first half and never looked back.
The game started with a quick unassisted goal from Katie Ritter ’15. However, Wesleyan fought back and answered with a goal of their own. This fired up the Panthers, who responded with a goal from Hollis Perticone ’18, which was the catalyst that sparked a four goal scoring streak for Middlebury. Laurel Pascal ’16, Ritter, Bridget Instrum ’16, and Alli Sciarretta ’16 scored the next four goals, making the score 6-1 with under 10 minutes left in the first half. Wesleyan did not back down and responded with three goals to notch the score at 6-4 in favor of the Panthers. Ritter and Pascal added another two tallies before the halftime whistle blew.
The Panthers kept the momentum in their favor going into the second half with another pair of goals from Ritter and Pascal. Wesleyan’s Leah Sherman ended the Panthers’ scoring streak, but Middlebury responded once again with a goal from Sciarretta followed by Pascal, Kate Hodgson ’16 and Mary O’Connell ’17 to make the score 14-5. Wesleyan went on a quick rally scoring three goals toward the end of the contest. Perticone finished the game on a high note, scoring the final goal of the game to leave the final score at 15-8.
Both Ritter and Pascal ended the game with four goals apiece. In addition, first-year team member Perticone also contributed two goals and two assists. Delania Smith ’17 and O’Connell both also contributed two assists in the victory.
Despite letting up four goals in each half, the Middlebury defense was very strong. Goalie Madeleine Kinker ’16 turned aside seven shots while allowing only five goals on the day. First-year goaltender Alex Freedman ’18 was also successful between the pipes, allowing only three goals in her time on the field.
Middlebury out-shot Wesleyan 24 to 23, although Wesleyan held the 18-14 advantage in ground balls. The Panthers also controlled 15 out of the game’s 25 draws which allowed the team to gain an important advantage on the offensive end.
Captain and season overall leading scorer Ritter stated that the win this weekend was due to the team’s “energy and focus in practice … these past few weeks. [The team] started to focus on highlighting our teammates’ strengths by vocalizing what they do well in practice” which has translated to the field.
Middlebury will have an entire week to prepare for a road game against Bowdoin next Saturday, March 21. The team is looking to focus “more [on the] little details and nuances that [the team has] to work on” in order to prepare for Bowdoin, Ritter said.
Bowdoin, ranked 5th nationally with a 4-0 record, will be a tough matchup for ninth-ranked Middlebury this weekend. However, the Panthers are going to “come out in practice this week really hard knowing that our spring break games will be great tests for us” Ritter said.
