Third-ranked Middlebury clinched the top seed for the NESCAC Tournament with a three-goal third period on its way to a 4-0 win over Williams on senior night in Kenyon Arena. The Panthers (18-2-3, 13-1-2) return to the ice next Saturday when they conclude the regular-season portion of their schedule with a home game against second-ranked Plattsburgh State at 3:00 p.m., while Williams (8-11-3, 5-7-2) visits Connecticut College on Friday at 7:00 p.m. 

The first period saw few scoring chances for either side. Williams looked to get on the board at the 11:30 mark when Alex Lovaas had her quick wrister just from outside the crease turned away by Middlebury goalie Madeline Marsh. A little over 90 seconds later, back-to-back shots by Emily Fluke and Janka Hlinka for the Panthers were each padded away by Eph netminder Christina Cleroux as the teams went to the intermission without a score. In the period, Middlebury held an 11-2 advantage in shots on goal.

In the middle period, back-to-back pad saves by Marsh on shots from Lovaas six minutes in kept the game tied at 0-0. On the power play, Fluke had her shot on the doorstep swiped away by Cleroux with her right pad. The Panthers got on the board at the 11:56 mark when Carly Watson made a nifty pass to find a streaking Maddie Winslow, who skated down the left side and sent a wrister from the dot that beat Cleroux to the top shelf shortside for her ninth goal of the winter.

Early in the third, Middlebury turned up the offensive pressure. Fluke made it a 2-0 Panther advantage at 1:38 when she tapped in a loose puck on a shot after Jessica Young redirected an attempt from the point.

On the faceoff at 4:07, Fluke cleanly won it back to Young, who quickly wristed a shot to the right side of the net and gave the Panthers a 3-0 edge. Skating four-on-three, Williams' Emily Krueger gave the Ephs their best scoring opportunity of the period with 3:45 remaining, but Marsh sprawled out and made the save sliding to her right on the open net.

Cleroux was pulled with a little under four minutes to play as the Ephs looked to get on the board following a pair of Panther penalties. Middlebury was able to kill the penalties, as Fluke added an empty-net short-handed goal with 16 ticks left from center ice for the final decision.

Middlebury held a 28-20 advantage in shots for the game, as Marsh tallied 20 saves for her third shutout of the season. Cleroux was credited with 24 stops for the Ephs. Saturday's victory also improves Middlebury's unbeaten streak to 18 (15-0-3).