The women’s field hockey team won their second ever NCAA Championship on Sunday, Nov. 22 on Washington and Lee’s Turf Field. The Panthers (20-2) beat no. 3 The College of New Jersey 4-1 in Saturday’s Nov. 21 semifinal matchup before defeating top-ranked Bowdoin in the championship game on Sunday, Nov. 22.
“Our journey to the national championship really started with the tone set by the seniors and coaches at the beginning of the season,” Emily Miller ’17, the team’s starting goalie, reflected. “All the seniors made it known ... from day one of preseason that our goal ... was to win the National Championship.”
Miller describes a memorable moment after the Panthers broke their three-year winning streak by losing to Bowdoin in the NESCAC Championship.
“We were all standing together after the game, kind of sad, and one of our seniors [said], ‘Two words: national championship.’ [The loss] stung, and I think that ... spurred us to go on to be so driven and dominant in the rest of our games this season.”
In the rematch of last year’s semifinal game, where TCNJ defeated the Panthers before going on to win the national championship, Middlebury struck first and early. Pam Schulman ’17 netted the first goal of the game at the four-minute mark after Shannon Hutteman ’16 redirected a penalty corner insertion her way. Just six minutes later, Annie Leonard ’18 tallied her team-best 24th goal off a pass from Grace Jennings ’19 to put the Panthers up 2-0. With the goal, Leonard moved into fourth place in Middlebury’s single-season record book. Twenty minutes later, Caroline Knapp ’18 sent in a rebound off a penalty corner to give the Panthers a 3-0 lead. TCNJ responded with a few good scoring opportunities, but impressive saves by Panther goalie Miller and the defensive line led by Jillian Green ’16 kept the Lions scoreless for the remainder of the first half.
The Panther’s offensive line came out strong in the second half, and Schulman was able to send another ball past the Lion’s goalie for a 4-0 lead at the 41:54 mark. With just over six minutes remaining in the match, TCNJ got on the board when Jaclyn Douglas redirected a shot past a diving Miller.
The Panthers held an 8-6 advantage in shots and 3-2 advantage in penalty corners. Miller finished with two saves for the win, while Lions goalie Schlupp was credited with three stops.
With the win, the Panthers advanced to the championship game on Sunday against NESCAC foe Bowdoin. Top ranked Bowdoin had given Middlebury their only two losses of the season.
“To get to the national championship we had to beat teams that were ranked sixth, fifth, and third in the country [while] Bowdoin had to beat teams ranked fourth, eighth, and unranked,” Miller pointed out. “So [we came into the final four] ready and knowing how to fight through a really tough game. I think this gave us a bit of a mental edge over Bowdoin ... who came in undefeated, and had yet to play from behind all season.”
The first twenty minutes of the game were largely played in the midfield, with a few good scoring opportunities by Bowdoin. Miller, though, made a kicking save to keep the game scoreless. On Bowdoin’s first penalty corner of the game, Kelsey Mullaney had her first shot blocked and second attempt saved by Miller. Immediately following the corner, the Panthers made a quick transition and began an offensive attack. A Bowdoin defender tipped a pass from Schulman, and Jennings collected the ball in the middle of the circle before ripping a shot past the Bowdoin goalie to gain a 1-0 advantage. The Panthers were able to hold on to the advantage for the remainder of the first half.
“[Since] we scored first and in the first half, for the rest of the game we were in a familiar position of having maintain the win, while they were in a new position of having to come from behind,” Miller said.
Early in the second half the Panthers were awarded four penalty corners in a three-minute stretch, but were unable to capitalize on any of the scoring opportunities. Bowdoin drew a pair of penalty corners in the 59th and 60th minutes, but Miller made two great saves to maintain the Panther’s advantage. In the 62nd minute, Bowdoin had another pair of scoring attempts, the best coming from Liz Znamierowski whose shot after a rebound hit the right post and bounced away. The Polar Bears were unable to convert any of their attempts in the final minutes as Middlebury held on for the national title.
Bowdoin finished with a 17-14 advantage in shots, while Middlebury held a 9-5 advantage in penalty corners. Miller finished with six saves in goal to earn her eighth shutout of the season, while Belitz made three stops for the Polar Bears.
Anna Kenyon ’16, Schulman and Lauren Berestecky ’17 were each named to the all-tournament team, while Bridget Instrum ’16 was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player.
