Women’s Lacrosse Runs to 18-3 Victory

The Middlebury women’s lacrosse team continued their trend of dominance this past Saturday, March 16, riding a first-half scoring streak to a huge lead against Connecticut College and never looking back en route to an 18-3 victory.

The Panthers, who went into the weekend ranked fifth nationally, took down the Camels by a score of 18-3. With this win the Panthers hold a record of 2-0 overall (2-0 in conference) after handily defeating their first two opponents of the young season.

Emma Kramer ’13 opened the scoring for Middlebury with a goal in the game’s second minute to give the Panthers the early lead. After a Camel equalizing goal, Chrissy Ritter ’16 put the Panthers back up with a goal of her own.

The Camels were able to retie the score at 2-2 with 10 minutes elapsed in the half before Middlebury went on a run of nine consecutive unanswered goals. During this run – which covered nearly 20 minutes – six different Panthers added goals to give Middlebury an 11-2 lead. A Camel goal in the half’s final 10 seconds made the score 11-3 going into the break.

Michaela Colbert ’13 tallied her third goal of the game to open the second half for Middlebury. The Panther defense – led by Margaret Souther ’13 and Maggie Caputi ’16 – smothered the Conn. College attack for much of the second half, holding them scoreless on just two shots. Alli Sciaretta ’16 recorded the Panthers’ final goal of the game to run the score to 18-3.

In addition to Colbert’s trio of goals, Ellen Halle ’13 contributed two goals and four assists to the win. Halle currently leads the team in points with 14 points over two games.

Overall, the Panthers overwhelmed the Camels with a barrage of offense, recording 35 shots in the game – including 21 in the first half alone – while the Camels managed just eight shots of their own. Middlebury also held a stark advantage in draw controls while recording fewer penalties during the game.

Goalie Alyssa Palomba ’14 came up big as well for the Panthers in the limited number of times that she was needed, stopping four of the six shots she faced in the game.

“It was another great team win, with lots of players contributing all over the field,” said Halle. “Defensively we were fantastic the second half, and offensively we were able to score off many of the different plays and sets that we have been practicing. While we should have some tough games coming up this week, the true test for our team will come next Monday when we play Gettysburg who we beat last spring to advance to the final four.”

The Panthers return to competition this Saturday, March 23, with a NESCAC road game against Wesleyan. The Cardinals – owners of a 1-3 record this year – finished 11th in the conference a year ago.

Middlebury then goes on the road to Gettysburg, Stevens Institute and Bowdoin during the week as part of their annual spring break trip.