Improving their record to 8-1, the third-ranked Middlebury women’s lacrosse team avenged last year’s pair of one-goal losses to the second-ranked Colby Mules with a satisfying 7-5 victory at Bill Alfond Field on Saturday, April 4. The Panthers struck early and often by jumping out to a 5-0 lead from which Colby struggled to recover. Laurel Pascal ’16 started the game off with a quick goal followed by a score from Katie Ritter ’15. Pascal continued Middlebury’s momentum, recording her second goal of the first half. The first half scoring was completed with goals by Chrissy Ritter ’16 and Mary O’Connell ’17. Colby was demoralized but not broken. They stormed back with three unanswered goals narrowing the Panther’s lead to 5-3 at the half.
Both teams are known for their lockdown defense, and accordingly, defensive play dominated the second half. Colby scored quickly at the start of the second half, however, Pascal responded with another goal followed by O’Connell shortly after to give the Panthers a 7-4 lead with 23:10 left in the game. The Mules early second half goal that was their last goal until the last seven seconds of play when they scored their second goal of the half.
The victory over Colby was truly a team effort. O’Connell summarized the team’s approach, stating, “Everyone on the team brings something different to the table and we don’t rely on a few people to get the job done. Every victory is a team victory. At any point in the game coach could put anyone in and that person would be a spark on attack or defense. We have one if not the deepest team in Division III and at any given moment someone different will step up and bring something new and unique to the game,” she said.
Despite the fact that this was a team victory, there were many standout individual efforts by the Panthers. Cat Fowler ’15 had four ground balls and two draw controls while Delaina Smith ’17 added four ground balls and caused one turnover in the victory. Colby managed to record more shots on goal than Middlebury, however, goaltender Madeleine Kinker ’16 proved her talent between the pipes by stopping 10 shots, including six in the second half.
The impressive victory over Colby was the product of a lot of hard work. Allie Hooley ’17 said the victory is evidence “of the team’s growth over the course of this season.” She added that she expected the team to improve even more as the season progresses.
“This win gives us more confidence in the way we play as a team, and it only adds to ourexcitement as we head into the last few games of [the] regular season.”
Hooley added that “[the team] will continue to do what [they] do best to prepare for any team: work hard in practice, prepare for our game with our opponent in mind, and most importantly work on playing our own game of Middlebury lacrosse.”
After the game O’Connell summarized how the team felt after the big win.
“It was great to beat Colby especially with two tough losses last year by one goal [...] we got our redemption this year,” she added.
The team will return to action this week, facing Union on Tuesday, April 7 at 5:30 and Bates at home this Saturday on Kohn Field.
