The Middlebury women's lacrosse team scored the game's first six goals and never looked back, as the Panthers stayed undefeated with an 18-6 win at Stevenson on Wednesday. Second-ranked Middlebury (8-0) returns to NESCAC action on Saturday at noon traveling to ninth-ranked Amherst.

The Panthers raced out to that early lead, scoring three times in the opening 3:24. Alli Sciarretta opened the scoring 1:16 into the game on a feed from Bridget Instrum, while Mary O'Connell made it 2-0 less than a minute later with a nice spin move to create shooting space. Megan Griffin increased the lead to 3-0, taking a soft lead pass from Laurel Pascal. Griffin made it a four-goal lead for the visitors putting a shot over the stick of Mustang goalie Maggie Lawder after circling the crease.

The goals kept coming for Middlebury, as Sciarretta set up Pascal for a tally and 43 seconds later O'Connell tallied from the top of the crease. The Panthers led 6-0 after only 7:03 of action.

Stevenson (2-7) scored three of the next four goals to close to within 7-3, but Middlebury countered by scoring seven times in the final 10 minutes of the half to claim a 14-4 lead. The Panther depth came through during that run with the goals coming from six different players.

In the second half, Middlebury controlled play and held a modest 4-2 scoring advantage with Emma McDonagh tallying the game's final goal with 2:58 left.

O'Connell and Griffin each recorded five points in the win, as O'Connell scored four times and had one assist and Griffin had a hat trick and two assists. Instrum added three goals and one assist, while Pascal scored twice and had one helper. Pascal's two goals moved her into 10th place in Middlebury's career goals' list with 149.

Chrissy Ritter was a force on the defensive half of the field with four ground balls and four caused turnover, while Alex White collected four GBs and caused a pair of turnovers.

Kate Furber played the first half in the goal for the Panthers and made a pair of saves, while Katie Mandigo recorded three saves in the final 30 minutes.

McLaughlin topped the Mustangs with a pair of goals, while Lawder finished with seven saves as Middlebury held a 29-17 advantage in shots.