Men’s soccer
BY ERIK ARVIDSSON
This past weekend the Panthers faced a daunting test, a home and away double header. The Panthers managed to take down Conn College 2–1 on Saturday in Middlebury, and finished up a solid weekend with a 1–1 draw against Amherst College on Sunday in Amherst, Massachusetts.
On Saturday, the game resulted in a 1–1 tie after regulation. In overtime, Max Drazen ’22 was taken down in the box; Liam Sloan ’22 managed to convert the penalty kick to give the Panther’s an exciting walk-off finish.
On Sunday, in a physical and hard fought battle, Henry Wilhelm ’20 put Midd on the board in the 30th minute. Amherst managed to tie the game in the 81st minute and the scoreline would not change.
Ben Potter ’20 commented on the team’s effort this week.
“I think we showed how deep of a team we are,” Potter said. “All 31 of our guys played a role in taking four points this weekend.”
The Panthers will face Bates and Maine Maritime in an away double header this upcoming weekend.
Women’s tennis
BY MIGUEL ESPINOSA
Middlebury hosted the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Women’s Tennis New England Regional Championship on the weekend of Sept. 28–29. The Championship included a singles and doubles bracket and players from NESCAC and non-NESCAC schools. The winners of each bracket would receive invitations to the ITA Cup in Georgia happening on Oct. 17–20. Both brackets involved 32 players or pairs.
Unfortunately, no Panthers — only Cardinals — will be attending the ITA Cup. Wesleyan University’s Yu and Henderson took the doubles tournament, while Jin took singles.
In doubles, Heather Boehm ’20 and Maddi Stow ’20 ventured as far into the semifinals before falling to Yu and Henderson. The pair of Skylar Schossberger ’20 and Katherine Hughes ’20 played into the quarterfinals.
For singles, Boehm, Schossberger and Hughes played into the second rounds of their brackets.
The Panthers will return to the court on Friday, Oct. 11 when they compete in the NEWITT Tournament at Smith College and Mount Holyoke College.
Women's golf
BY MICHAEL SEGEL
It was a big weekend for the women’s golf team as the Panthers came out on top in the George Phinney Classic at their home turf, Ralph Myhre Golf Course. They finished six strokes ahead of Amherst with a total of 634 over the two days.
After the first round, Middlebury was on top with 312 shots, five strokes ahead of NESCAC rivals Amherst and Williams. Chloe Levins ’20 led the team, finishing one stroke out of first with 74 and Katie Murphy ’23 followed up last weekend’s strong showing with a slight 75 stroke performance on Saturday.
On the second round, Middlebury shot for a 322 in total, again led by Levins who would take home medalist honors for the third time in her collegiate career.She had to do so in a playoff with Amherst’s Morgan Yurosek, with the two girls having tied at 153 shots apiece. Both parred the first hole, but on the second hole Levins parred again while Yurosek bogeyed, giving Levins the title.
In other notable performances, Katie Murphy came in third overall with a score of 155 (75–80), Blake Yaccino ’20 in a tie for 13th with a 161 (78–83). Kayla Li ’23 ranked next with a 166 (86–80), while Anna Zumwinkle ’20 finished with a 170 (85–85). Middlebury will compete in the NESCAC Qualifier/Williams Fall Invitational next weekend.
Men's tennis
BY JACK KAGAN
The Men’s Tennis Team is returning from Waterville, Maine this week after an individual’s tournament at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Regional Championships. Colby College hosted the event featuring teams throughout New England.
Of the draw of 64 players, Middlebury sent six of its own, testing out some new doubles pairs and showcasing younger singles play. Panthers Stan Morris ’22 and Robby Ward ’23 were seeded in the 9–16 group.
The tournament proved to be full of upsets, as only two of the top eight seeds remained by the quarterfinal round. One such upset belonged to Morris who took out the No. 3 seed, Brandeis’ David Aizenberg in straight sets. Ward had a strong showing of his own, making it to the quarterfinals before falling to Wesleyan’s Noah Lilienthal in a tight three sets.
Despite falling to Tufts’ star Boris Sorkin, Morris earned a spot at the ITA Cup on Oct. 17–18 at Berry College in Rome, Georgia.
Field Hockey
BY MIGUEL ESPINOSA
Top-ranked Field Hockey continued to assert their dominance by toppling Skidmore College, Connecticut College, and Amherst College. Holding on tight to the only overall undefeated record in the NESCAC, field hockey now stands at 9–0. The Panthers are also 5–0 in conference play, but aren’t the only ones undefeated in that category; No. 5 Tufts University’s conference record lies at 3–0.
The Panthers showcased their defense with a 3–0 victory against Skidmore on Tuesday, Sept. 24. Skidmore did not produce a single shot on goal compared to Middlebury’s impressive 16.
On Saturday, Sept. 28, an offensive onslaught ensued against Connecticut College when the Panthers breezed by 6–1 and attempted 23 shots on goal. Despite allowing one goal, the defense performed solidly having limited Connecticut College to three shots on goal.
On the following day, Sunday, Sept. 29, the Panthers secured a 2–1 win against Amherst. The Panthers maintained a 2–0 lead until halfway into the third quarter when an Amherst shot deflected off a Middlebury defender and entered the goal.
Football
BY LAUREN BOYD
In a widely anticipated contest, the Middlebury Panthers defeated the Trinity Bantams this past Saturday on their home turf. Improving their record to 3–0, the Panthers took home a clutch win against a NESCAC football powerhouse, tallying the most points out of any other conference team against Trinity, since 2011.
The Panthers appeased their fans from the very first whistle, scoring 12 points right off the bat. Trinity didn’t fall far behind, taking the lead with minutes left of the first half, after scoring two touchdowns back to back. By halftime, the Bantams took the 14–12 lead over the Panthers.
A series of interceptions, fourth-down stops, and penalties culminated in the second half for the Panthers’ benefit. Characterized by back-and-forth play, the second half became a race to the finish. In the end, Middlebury came out on top, 32–27.
Will Jernigan ’21 and Alex Maldjian ’23 controlled the offensive game, Jernigan passing for 127 yards and Maldjian posting 90 yards rushing. Four Panthers recorded interceptions on the game: Zander Bailey ’21, Michael Carr ’20, Kevin Hartley ’20 and Finn Muldoon ’23.
Carter Massengill ’20 was named NESCAC special teams player of the week, picking up 12 out of the Panthers’ 32 points. Alex Norton ’20 also received NESCAC player of the week honors for his work on the defensive line, tacking two sacks for 16 yards loss.
Next week, the Panthers will take on the Amherst Mammoths for their second away game of the season.
Cross Country
BY JORDAN HOWELL
The Panthers competed in the Purple Valley Classic on Saturday, Sept. 29. The women were able to achieve fifth place while the men captured fourth.
Notable finishers for the women include Cassie Kearney ’22 who finished in eighth place and Talia Ruxin ’20 who finished in tenth place. Kearney’s time was 23:39.0 and Ruxin’s time was 23:41.2. Notable finishers for the men include Theo Henderson ’20 and Zander Kessler ’22. Henderson finished in 14th place with a time of 27:10.0, while Kessler was able to come in 21st place with a time of 27:15.6.
Next up on the Panthers’ schedule is the Paul Short Invitational and the Keene State Invitational. Both races will occur on Saturday, Oct. 5.
“Starting this week we will be doing threshold and tempo workouts to get some speed in as we progress with our season,” Sophie Nardelli ’23 said.
Men's golf
BY JACK KAGAN
The Men’s Golf team made their way down to Sandy Burr Country Club in Wayland, Massachusetts this past weekend to compete in the NESCAC Fall Qualifier. The top four teams would receive a bid to the conference championship tournament — and the Panthers came up just short with a fifth place finish behind Williams, Tufts, Hamilton and Trinity.
The Panthers finished day one just one stroke behind then-third-place Hamilton, but they slipped on day two as other teams upped their game. Middlebury rounded out the tournament seven strokes behind Trinity, ending their conference title hopes.
Leading the pack for the Panthers squad were Jordan Bessalel ’21 and Phinneas Choukas ’22, tied for eighth shooting five above par.
Co-captain Jeffrey Giguere ’20 was missed atop the rankings. After finishing day one in third place, he fell to 12th at six above par.
The Panthers will have to motivate the squad after being shut out from NESCACS and look to garner some positive results for the Saratoga Invitational on Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 12–13.
Volleyball
BY HEATHER BOEHM
Middlebury Volleyball suffered a tough conference loss to Amherst on the road on Friday, Sept. 27. The women fell in a three-set battle with tight scores throughout the first and last sets. Amherst is 10-1 overall with an undefeated NESCAC record.
The Panthers came out swinging, leading the first set 16–12. But Amherst refused to stay silent and retaliated with eight out of the next nine points. The Mammoths capitalized on their momentum and used their home court advantage to seal the win with solid offensive plays.
The Panther defense is looking better than ever, with Gigi Alper ’20 leading the NESCAC in both digs per set and overall digs with a dominating 6.53 and 235 respectively. The next highest in each category was a mere 5.36 from Wesleyan and 202 from Bowdoin.
Maggie Wise ’22 represents the offense with 3.32 kills per set, the third highest tally in the conference. Chellsa Ferdinand ’20 also made some waves this weekend with 14 assists, carving out a space for her in MWV history pushing her total number of assists to 1,619, the sixth most in program history.
Middlebury will look to find some redemption this weekend when they travel to Trinity on Friday, Oct. 4 and Endicott on Saturday, Oct. 5.
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