With March break around the corner, the spring sports season is picking up steam. Here’s a quick recap of Middlebury sports teams’ performances from over the weekend:
Nordic Skiing:
Nordic skiing competed in the NCAA Championships this past weekend at Lake Placid, N.Y. The team placed 10th out of 22 schools again, finishing in the same position as last year’s NCAA Championships. Shea Brams ’26 came in 13th overall in the women’s 20k classic, posting a 1:03:22.8 time, with Charlotte Ogden ’23 not far behind in 18th with a time of 1:04:46.6. The women’s side put up 32 points, putting them at seventh out of 17 teams. On the men’s side, brothers Logan Moore ’25 and Willson Moore ’23 finished back to back in 15th and 16th place in the 20k classic with times of 58:18.8 and 58:30.4, respectively. Jack Christner ’25 also threw down a point scoring race with a time of 1:01:16.6, which put him in 28th place. Those performances helped the men get 37 points for an eighth place finish. The Panthers as a whole team earned 215 points, well behind championship leaders Utah (526 points), Colorado (491.5 points) and Denver (416.5 points).
Women’s Tennis:
The women’s tennis team beat Tufts, the eighth ranked team in the country, 5–4 in a close match on Saturday. Middlebury, ranked sixth in the country, won due to impressive efforts from Amy Delman ’24, Claudia Miller ’25, Nathalie van der Reis ’25 and Lulu Wu ’26. On Sunday, the team dominated in an 8–1 trouncing of Bates. Middlebury went 2–1 during the doubles portion of the event and undefeated in the singles portion, with Wu, van der Reis and Miller contributing again in the huge victory. The Panthers look to keep the winning streak alive next Saturday versus Chapman University.
Men’s Tennis:
The men’s tennis team, ranked fourth in the country, had a mixed bag this weekend as they lost to the fifth ranked Tufts 6–3 on Saturday but came back to defeat Bates 7–2 on Sunday. Against Tufts, the Panthers put themselves in a hole early, losing all three doubles matches before Julian Wu ’26 gave the Panthers their first win in his singles match. The next matches were very competitive until Tufts ultimately clinched their victory. On Sunday, the Panthers went 2–1 in the doubles event to creep ahead of Bates before going 5–1 in the singles matches. Wu won another match to give him eleven victories in a row. The Panthers will head to San Diego next weekend to play Point Loma College.
Men’s Lacrosse:
The men’s lacrosse team had a big weekend, winning both of their games to improve to 3–0 this season. Saturday saw the Panthers beat Connecticut College 10–9. In the first quarter, the Panthers scored quickly to grab the 4–1 lead. The second quarter seemed to have all the action as Russell Thorndike ’25 scored a hat trick to make it 6–2 before the Camels scored four straight goals to even up the game at six. William Ryan ’23 scored with only 19 seconds left to give the Panthers a 7–6 lead going into halftime. The second half was low scoring, as each side scored three goals to finish off the game. Despite the back and forth, Middlebury has dominated Connecticut College to the tune of a 30–6 all time. On Sunday, Middlebury faced a much more daunting task as they fell behind RPI 5–0, but strong second and fourth quarter scoring (five goals and four goals respectively) sealed the Panthers’ second 10–9 win of the weekend, and the RPI Engineers’ first loss of the year. Tom Conley ’23.5 gave the team the necessary heroics this time with the winning goal with only 36.9 seconds left in the game. Hayden Kern ’26 also kept the Panthers in the hunt with 14 saves. Next Saturday, Middlebury looks to continue their win streak at home against Trinity.
Women’s Lacrosse:
The top-ranked women's lacrosse team absolutely demolished Connecticut College in a 19–3 victory this past Saturday. The game started with a high-scoring first quarter as Middlebury scored 10 goals to secure their victory early. Everyone got in on the fun as Jane Earley ’23, Susan Rowley ’24, Emma Inouye ’23.5, Caroline Messer ’26 and Kelcey Dion ’25 all scored. The offensive tirade continued with another four goals in the second quarter to make it 14–2. Jamee Numan ’25 scored two goals in the third quarter and another in the fourth to earn a hat trick, the second in her career. The offensive barrage was nothing new for Middlebury, who have historically beaten Connecticut College 31 out of 32 meetings. With this win, the team improves to 3–0 on the year (with an eight-game win streak dating to last season) and look to continue their almost comical offensive dominance this season on Wednesday at Peter Kohn Field versus St. Lawrence University.
Women’s Ice Hockey:
The seventh ranked women’s ice hockey team ended their season on Saturday with a 4–2 loss in the NCAA Quarterfinals against Plattsburgh State, the No. 2 seed in the tournament. Plattsburgh got the scoring started early taking a 1–0 lead two minutes into the game. Claudia Vira ’23 evened the game during a power play, but Middlebury wouldn’t score again until the third period. Plattsburgh scored twice in the second period and never looked back. Britt Nawrocki ’26 got the Panthers closer in the third period to make it 3–2, but Plattsburgh scored again to seal the deal on the Panthers’ season. Despite the loss, individual performances like Sophia Merageas ’24 saving 33 goals, a season high for her, showcased the talent on the team. This season marked the 18th time Middlebury made the NCAA tournament, and the program boasts a 21–14 lifetime record in the tournament, good for second best among DIII schools.
Baseball:
In the Campus’ preseason recap story, the baseball team’s main dynamic was their historically productive offense coupled with a more league average pitching staff. Well, that staff demonstrated impressive stuff on Sunday as they held Swarthmore to four runs over 14 innings in their doubleheader. Game one saw Alex Price ’23 duel his Swarthmore counterpart Liam Alpern for the first four scoreless innings before the game opened up in the sixth inning. Swarthmore took a 1–0 lead with a homer off Price, but Middlebury answered with four runs in the next frame, highlighted by a three-run homer by Kyle McCausland ’25. Price finished off the game despite an RBI double by Swarthmore in the bottom of the seventh, racking up a total of nine strikeouts in his effort. Game two saw the Panthers break out offensively to dominate Swarthmore 9–2. The first inning saw each team trade off runs. RBI singles by David Byrne ’24 and Baker Angstman ’24 in the second inning gave the Panthers the lead for good but not before a five-run explosion in the seventh inning thanks to a Jack Stopler ’23 RBI single and a grand slam by Bryne. With the sweep, the Panthers head to California for spring break with their first game against Chapman University.
Ryan Heinzerling '24 (he/him/his) is one of the Sports Editors!
He's studying English and Political Science. Outside of his studies, Ryan is also a member of the Middlebury College Ski Patrol, has a radio show at WRMC, and spent this previous summer working as a Corporate Partners Intern at the New York Mets!
