The Middlebury Panthers’ 11 game-winning streak was snapped by number-one Trinity on Saturday, April 18 on Trinity’s Sheppard Field. The 16-7 drubbing extended Trinity’s nation-leading winning streak to 13. It also gave the Bantams sole possession of first place in the NESCAC.
Trinity came out blazing with two quick goals. The Panthers fought back with goals from Mary O’Connell ’17 and Hollis Perticone ’18 to tie the game 2-2 with about 20 minutes to go in the first half. Trinity responded with a trio of unanswered goals to bring the score to 5-2. Bridget Instrum ’16 scored for Middlebury to cut the lead to two, but that was quickly countered by another Trinity goal. A goal from Laurel Pascal ’16 just before halftime made the lead 7-4 Trinity going into the break.
Trinity struck quickly after halftime with four goals to increase the lead to seven at 11-4 with 24:39 left in the game. A response from Middlebury’s Chrissy Ritter ’16 got the Panthers on the scoreboard in the half, but Middlebury could not rally on the defensive end to keep Trinity at bay. Another pair of Bantam goals increased the lead to eight at 13-5. The teams traded goals for the remaining minutes — with Katie Ritter ’15 and Pascal chipped in goals during garbage time — and, at the final whistle, the scoreboard read 16-7 in favor of Trinity.
“We are trying to turn the lopsided loss to Trinity into a learning experience,” Chrissy Ritter said. “We didn’t play to the best of our ability on Saturday and didn’t show Trinity what Middlebury lacrosse is all about. In such a high-intensity game, a lot of our players tried to beat Trinity by themselves.”
Despite the loss, the Panthers are looking forward to the upcoming games and believe that the team will approach the games stronger after the loss to Trinity. Jessie Yorke ’17 agreed with Ritter, saying that the team will need to improve in order to achieve their goals down the road.
“We strayed from playing as a unit,” Yorke said. “We are mentally focused on playing to our strengths. Hopefully the focus on the team game will result in the team bouncing back even stronger.”
Despite the loss, Middlebury is set up well for a playoff run in 2015. Still among the nation’s best teams, the Panthers will look to improve upon last year’s postseason, in which they were upset by Colby in the conference quarterfinals before falling in the NCAA round of 16 to Gettysburg.
“Today and tomorrow we will be working a lot on offensive sets, moving the ball quickly and efficiently as a team, instead of what we did against Trinity, which were a lot of desperate, individual efforts,” Chrissy Ritter said.
Next Saturday the second-ranked Panthers will play their first game of the playoffs at home, against an opponent yet to be determined.
“We are excited to have a home game because it is so nice to be able to play on our turf,” Chrissy Ritter said. “The home field advantage gives the team an advantage mentally just because of the support we feel when we are at home.”
