Third-ranked Middlebury dominated sixth-ranked Colby, opening up a stunning 11-0 halftime advantage on the way to a 14-6 win in a NESCAC game played on Bill Alfond Field. Middlebury (12-1 overall, 8-1 NESCAC) scored six times in the first 6:48 of play on the way to handing the Mules (10-3, 6-3) their third loss in five games.

Ellen Halle had four goals and one assist, while Margaret Souther also had five points with two goals and three assists. Laurel Pascal and Liza Herzog both had three goals, while Chrissy Ritter and Michaela Colbert had the other Panther goals.

Lindsey McKenna had four of Colby's six goals. Tess Petesch added one score and two assists, while Kate Pistel had one goal and one assist. 

Pascal opened up the scoring just 1:14 into the game off an assist from Souther. Halle, who is up to 41 goals on the season, scored unassisted with 26:41 left to halftime and Souther added a second unassisted goal 47 seconds later.

Middlebury had a 9-3 edge in draw controls in the first half and that helped spur the early goals. Herzog scored from Halle 28 seconds after Souther's goal. Halle added two straight goals with 24:53 and 23:12 to play. Souther assisted on the first goal and Catherine Fowler the second. 

Souther's big first half continued when she scored unassisted with 15:28 to play and then assisted on Ritter's score with 10:14 left. Colbert, Pascal, and Herzog all tallied unassisted in the final 8:36 for an 11-0 margin at the break.

Halle scored her final goal from Emma Kramer with 27:12 to play for a 12-0 margin. The Mules finally broke the shutout when McKenna scored from Katherine Eddy with 21:50 to play. McKenna added two more goals -- one from Eddy and the other from Petesch -- to cut the margin to 12-3 with 13:25 to go. The Panthers pushed the lead back up to 14-3 on scores by Herzog and Pascal.

Souther also had four ground balls, two draw controls, and two caused turnovers. Pascal chipped in with three ground balls, two caused turnovers, and two draw controls.

Alyssa Palomba had eight saves to earn the victory for Middlebury, while Claire Dickson played the final 53:12 of the game and made 12 stops for Colby.

BOX SCORE