Middlebury's Katie Ritter scored four goals and added three assists, and the second-ranked Panthers posted a 12-10 NESCAC win against #7 Hamilton (10-3, 6-3) at Steuben Field on Wednesday. Middlebury (11-1, 7-1) won its 11th straight game after a 12-11 loss to Tufts in the season opener back on February 28.

Laurel Pascal chipped in with four goals for the Panthers and leads the team with 33. Chrissy Ritter, Mary O'Connell, Alli Sciarretta and Evie Keating scored one goal each.

Middlebury's Madeleine Kinker, who leads the conference with a .544 save percentage, made 12 stops, including eight in the first half. C. Ritter scooped up three ground balls and caused two turnovers, while Pascal won four draw controls.

Hannah Rubin kept Hamilton in the game with a career-high 13 saves. Morgan Fletcher picked up a career-best four ground balls and tied a career high with four draw controls. Hannah Haskell tied a career best with three caused turnovers.

Fletcher scored two goals and added an assist. Caroline McCarthy paced the Continentals with three goals and Ashleigh Stephan tallied two. Taylor Ryan, Nora Klemmer and Casey File scored one goal each, while Darby Philbrick was credited with her fifth assist.

The Panthers never trailed but the score was tied twice at 2-2 early in the first half and at 10-10 midway through the second. Middlebury went ahead for good with 10:35 left when K. Ritter found an open Keating for her first collegiate goal. K. Ritter leads the team with 22 helpers.

Pascal provided a two-goal cushion with 5:46 remaining when she scored after creating some space with a nice spin move inside the circle. After Pascal made it 12-10, Fletcher won the ensuing draw control for Hamilton. She drove right down in front of the goal and squeezed off a shot that was caught by Kinker.

The Panthers kept possession for the next four minutes until Fletcher picked off a pass with a little more than a minute to go. As she ran up the field, she was tripped and lost the ball to Middlebury's Megan Griffin, and the Panthers ran out the final 45 seconds.

Two goals by Pascal gave Middlebury a 2-0 lead just two minutes into the first half. Tallies by McCarthy and Stephan drew the Continentals even with 22:10 left. The Panthers ran off the next four goals for a 6-2 lead with 17:05 remaining. K. Ritter started the spurt with two goals, while C. Ritter and Sciarretta added their 12th and 22nd goals of the season, respectively.

When it seemed Middlebury was going to blow the game open, Hamilton cut its deficit in half on goals by Ryan and Fletcher just 12 seconds apart. Stephan's 17th goal this year was sandwiched between two more scores by K. Ritter, and the Panthers took an 8-5 advantage into the halftime break.

Both teams scored twice in the opening 3:43 of the second half, including Fletcher's team-leading 26th goal for the Continentals that made it 9-7 with 27:48 to go. Pascal restored Middlebury's three-goal lead on a feed from Ritter with 26:17 left.

Hamilton notched the next three goals as the Panthers went nearly 16 minutes without scoring. McCarthy recorded her 19th with 24:32 remaining, File scored with two players draped all over her on a free-position shot with 19:00 to go and Klemmer brought the Continentals even on her 12th goal with 16:32 left. It was the last goal of the game for Hamilton.

The Continentals travel to Connecticut College for another NESCAC game on Saturday, April 18. Middlebury is at top-ranked Trinity on Saturday with first place in the conference standings on the line.