Men’s lacrosse advances to NESCAC semifinals after win

After quelling the early momentum of a spirited Williams squad and prevailing, 12-9, on Friday, Middlebury faced off against Colby in a NESCAC quarterfinal game at Alumni Stadium on Sunday. The efforts of a strong underclassmen core combined with outstanding goalkeeping lifted the Panthers past the Mules in a second overtime period. Middlebury, ranked 11th in the nation, advances to the NESCAC semifinals and will face Trinity on Saturday, May 7th at Tufts. Bowdoin will square off against the host school in the semifinal at midday.
To the delight of the crowd, John McGoldrick ’14 struck early, scoring twice to spur the Panthers on a four-goal run. Andrew Conner ’11 found separation and capped of the first quarter with a powerful take from 15 yards out. The midfield out-hustled their opponents and managed to hold Craig Bunker ’11 (.723 wins), the nation’s third-best face-off specialist, in check in the early going. A comfortable 5-1 lead vanished as Colby responded with a three-goal salvo. The two teams traded goals twice more before McGoldrick found the net a third time with one second left in the first half, setting the score at 7–5 in Middlebury’s favor.
Conner, dodging downhill to score, opened up the third quarter with his second goal on the afternoon. The Mules responded with another three-goal run, tying the game at 8-8. Long-stick midfielder Billy Chapman ’13 did not hesitate to bring the score to 9-8 on a fast break opportunity with 9:25 left in the fourth quarter. Colby’s John Jennings ’13 managed to score a man-up tally before the game was pushed into overtime.
A brilliant defensive effort preserved Middlebury in the first four-minute overtime period. Inspired by the play of Matt Rayner ’12, the exhausted squad kept the Mules off balance, punishing them for any slight hesitation. Still, goalkeeper Ryan Dean ’11 was called upon to make a game-saving stop on an untouched shooter from the right flank.
A frantic scrum left the ball in Colby’s possession near their own cage at the start of the second overtime period. Hurried by closing Middlebury players, a pass to the Mules’ goalie was intercepted by David Hild ’11 right on the doorstep. Initially taken aback by his good fortune, Hild quickly recovered his poise and scored on a point-blank shot to end the game.
McGoldrick paced Middlebury with a hat-trick and one assist, while Mike Giordano ’13 and Conner each added a pair of goals. Rayner led the Panthers with seven ground balls, as Middlebury owned a 46-36 advantage on Colby overall. Deane made 18 saves over 64:18 in goal for the win. When questioned about the close win and its effect going forward, Jack Balaban ’12 said he remained focused on the win.
“At this point in the season, the only thing that matters is getting a win,” he said. “We managed to do that on Saturday, but we will have to really step up our game this weekend. We have a lot of work to do, but we can’t wait to get on the field against Trinity and try and play our best game of the season.”
As mentioned above, the Panthers return to action this Saturday against Trinity. Middlebury defeated the Bantams by a score of 12-8 on the road in the teams’ regular season meeting earlier this spring.  If all goes to plan, Middlebury will face last year’s National Champions, Tufts, in the NESCAC finals on Sunday, May 8th. The Panthers put up a good fight against the Jumbos at home in their regular-season meeting this year, but ended up losing by a tally of 11-8. If they are able to best Trinity, Middlebury will certainly be looking for retribution against a Jumbos squad that took them down on their home turf.