The third-ranked Middlebury field hockey team advanced to the NESCAC Championship game after a 4-1 win over #16 Tufts at Bowdoin on Saturday. The Panthers will take on the host school for the fifth-straight year on Sunday, with game time set for noon. Middlebury (16-1) will be in search of its fourth-straight NESCAC crown.

Tufts pressured Middlebury early as the Jumbos earned four penalty corners in the opening 16 minutes. Dakota Sikes-Keilp blasted drives from the top of the circle but saw all her bids deflected away by Middlebury's fly.

Middlebury responded by converting on its second corner of the game in the 24th minute. Following the insert from Caroline Knapp, Pam Schulman dished a pass to her right for Bridget Instrum. Instrum took a step and fed the ball back to Schulman who connected for Middlebury's first goal of the game.

Instrum tallied her second assist of the game eight minutes later, feeding Molly Freeman. Carrying the ball down the left side of the circle, Instrum popped a shot into the air. Freeman waited on the far post and connected mid-air to deflect in the Panthers' second goal of the game with less than three minutes remaining in the first half.

Tufts looked to cut Middlebury's lead in half in the final minutes as the Jumbos earned another penalty corner. Elle Chrupcala's shot found its way past Middlebury goalie Emily Miller, but Jillian Green waited on the goal line to deny the late bid.

The Jumbos saw another promising shot turned away by the Middlebury defense when Maggie Chapman's ball snuck behind Miller but was met by Shannon Hutteman on the goal line.

Annie Leonard accounted for both Middlebury goals in the second half, finding the back of the net 8:01 and 17:18 into the frame. Her first came as she finished off a feed from Grace Jennings in a scrum, while the second was a solo effort.

Tufts had one more shot turned away by a defensive save from Green in the final seven minutes, before finally finding the back of the net. With time expired, the Jumbos had one final corner to spoil Middlebury's shutout and successfully converted on Hanaa Malik's tip at the right corner.

Tufts outshot the Panthers by an 11-10 margin with a 10-7 advantage in penalty corners. Emily Polinksi ended the day with five saves, while Miller made a pair for Middlebury.