The Middlebury women's lacrosse team scored the game's first nine goals and never looked back as the Panthers defeated visiting Wesleyan 13-5 in their home-opening contest Saturday on Kohn Field. Fourth-ranked Middlebury (5-0, 3-0) has a week off from competition before it hosts #17 Bowdoin next Saturday at 12:00 p.m., while the Cardinals (1-4, 0-3) are home on the same day for a non-conference game with Kean at 1:00 p.m.

Alli Sciarretta opened the scoring 2:23 into the game when she took a feed from Chrissy Ritter in transition following a successful clear. Just 13 seconds later, Sciarretta doubled the Panther advantage, cashing in on a feed from Laurel Pascal, who won the draw control. Ritter set up Middlebury's third score when Claire Russell deposited Ritter's pass into the Wesleyan net 4:24 in the contest.

Goals by Bea Eppler at 24:25 and Bridget Instrum on a free-position shot extended the Middlebury lead to 5-0 with 22:49 remaining in the opening half. Sciarretta recorded the next two goals for the Panthers for her team-leading 15th and 16th tallies of the spring, the latter of those coming on a nice-give-and-go with Instrum. Ritter tacked on a pair of unassisted markers for a 9-0 lead at 9:58 and on a free-position attempt at the 7:40 mark. The Cardinals got on the scoreboard when Dana Mitchell fed the ball from behind the Middlebury cage to Martha Harding with 1:07 left.

The Panthers made it a 10-1 game 1:19 into the second half when Ritter scored while the hosts were down a player due to a card. Megan Griffin set up Middlebury's next two goals, the first assist going to Eppler and the second to Russell for a 12-1 lead with 16:10 remaining.

The Cardinals scored the game's next three goals with Liana Mathias recording a pair sandwiched around a goal from Abigail Horst. Mathias' first tally came on a one-on-one with Panther goalie Kate Furber, while the second was a shot into the lower-right corner of the net. Horst found the back of the net on a hard, low shot into the bottom left corner.

Middlebury's Jenna McNicholas closed out the scoring for the hosts with 1:17 left in second half with her first collegiate goal. She circled the crease and laced a shot into the top-left corner.

Harding completed the scoring in the final seconds, posting her second goal of the game for Wesleyan with 19 ticks showing on the clock.

Sciarretta led all players with four goals for Middlebury, while Ritter had three goals and two assists. Russell and Eppler each scored twice, while Maggie Caputi had a huge game with six ground balls and four caused turnovers. Hollis Perticone paced the hosts with four draw controls.

Mathais and Harding each scored twice for the Cardinals, while Sara Bennett contributed three caused turnovers and scooped up two ground balls.

Madeleine Kinker got the start in the crease for the Panthers, tallying two saves in the first half, while Furber played the final half with a pair of stops. Nina Labovich produced 13 saves as Middlebury held a 29-11 advantage in shots and a narrow 25-23 edge in ground balls.