The Middlebury men's soccer team scored a goal in each half as the Panthers earned a 2-0 NESCAC win Sunday over visiting Wesleyan. The win elevated Middlebury's record to 8-1-3 and 4-1-3 in the conference, while the Cardinals dropped to 5-7-1 and 2-6 in leagueplay. The Panthers travel to Colby-Sawyer for their final non-conference match on Tuesday at 3:00 p.m., while Wesleyan is home Saturday at 2:30 p.m. against Amherst.

The hosts nearly opened the scoring in the 19th minute of the match when Kirk Horton headed the ball past the Cardinal keeper Jack Katkavich, but defender Charlie Gruner swooped and cleared the shot out of harm's way.

The Panthers netted the first goal of the match at 30:29 when Horton stepped forward on the attack. Hefired a shot from the right side that Katkavich made the diving save on, but the rebound went directly to Drew Goulart on the left side, who buried the shot for his second tally of the fall.

Wesleyan had a good chance to tie contest on a play that started on a corner kick. After the kick bounced around on the Middlebury penalty area, Nick Jackson laced a shot from inside the top of the box that Panther keeper Greg Sydor punched over the crossbar.

Holding a 1-0 lead at the start of the second half, Middlebury doubled its advantage with a goal in the first 10 minutes. Greg Conrad touched the ball from the left side to Daniel O'Grady in the middle of the Wesleyan penalty area, who put a low shot into the right corner of the net. The goal was O'Grady's fourth of the season and came in the 55th minute.

Middlebury nearly added a third goal in the 75th minute when Conrad intercepted a clearing attempt and quickly fired a shot on goal, but Katkavich (six saves) got back in position to stop the attempt.

The Panther defense was stellar in the second half, not allowing a shot. For the match, Middlebury doubled up the Cardinals in shots (16-8) and had a 5-3 edge in corner kicks.

Sydor finished with three saves for the Panthers as he moved into sole possession of third place in the program's record books for career shutouts with 23. Sydor also notched his seventh of the season and second in as many days.