The Middlebury men's lacrosse team scored the final five goals of the second quarter en route to a 17-14 NESCAC victory Saturday over #4 Amherst on Youngman Field at Alumni Stadium. The 13th-ranked Panthers (5-4, 3-2) return to action on Wednesday with a 5:00 p.m. game at Hamilton, while the Purple & White (7-2, 3-1) play the same day at Wesleyan with a start time of 7:00 p.m.

In the opening quarter, Middlebury was the first to score as Kyle Soroka tallied on a low, left-handed shot that found the back of the net at the 12:01 mark. Henry Riehl added a goal at the 9:14 mark before Jack Gould put the Panthers ahead by three at the 6:08 mark of the stanza with a hard, whipping shot from 12 yards out.

Kane Haffey got Amherst on the scoreboard with 5:13 to play in the first quarter when Evan Wolf broke up the right side and dished to Haffey on the doorstep.

Middlebury pushed its lead back to three (4-1) at the 3:39 mark when Sean Carroll rifled a shot from the right side on a feed from Jack Cleary. The score remained a three-goal advantage for the hosts after one quarter.

In the second stanza, Amherst recorded three-consecutive goals, starting with Brett Inglesby at the 13:03 mark on a shot from straight away, Michael Litner just under a minute later and Evan Wolf with 10:31 remaining in the quarter, evening the game at 4-4.

The Panthers responded with five-unanswered goals over the remainder of the quarter, sending the hosts into the break with a 9-4 lead. Jack Rautiola scored three times during the span, while Tim Giarrusso and Gould provided the other two goals.

The third quarter saw Gill pick up an early goal for Amherst on a dead sprint following the end of a man-down situation, scoring just 41 seconds into the quarter to pull the visitors to within four at 9-5.

The Panthers struck for back-to-back scores when Giarrusso and Cedric Rhodes found the back of the cage to extend its lead out to six at 11-5 with 11:13 left in the third period.

Brian O'Malley scored at the 8:57 mark on a low shot that slipped past Middlebury goalie Will Ernst from 15 yards away. The Panthers responded and grabbed their largest lead of the game at eight (14-6) via goals by Rhodes and a pair from Riehl with the final one coming on a man-up opportunity at 5:25.

Amherst's Dylan Park scored the next two goals with a pair of assists coming from Quinn Moroney, while Andrew Ford found the back of the net with 1:33 on a run up the right wing and a shot into the upper corner. Middlebury's Wyatt Rancourt stopped the Amherst surge when he won the ensuing face-off, raced down the middle of the field and found Jon Broome on the doorstep to send the hosts into the final quarter up by six (15-9).

In the fourth, Amherst narrowed its deficit to five (15-10) when Haffey scored on a nice feed from Ford at the 13:35 mark. The Panthers answered with goals by Soroka and Riehl to regain a seven-goal lead with 10:28 remaining.

The Purple & White scored four times over a span of 3:27, the final one coming on a bouncing shot following a ground ball by O'Malley to pull Amherst to within three (17-14) with 6:07 remaining in the quarter. Amherst had a pair of late chances over the final minutes, Ernst made two clutch stops, while Quincy Nichols had a key caused turnover with 3:17 left and to help Middlebury seal the victory.

Riehl paced the Panther attack scoring four times with an assist, while Rautiola had three markers and a helper. John Jackson led all players with 15 ground balls and was 23-32 at the faceoff dot. Jack DeFrino followed with four ground balls, while DeFrino and Jon Hurvitz both forced a pair of turnovers. Ernst made six saves in goal for Middlebury.

Amherst was led by Park's four goals, while Haffey added three goals and assisted on another score. Ryan Cassidy and Rob Butko picked up five and four ground balls. Ford, Cassidy and Connor Crump all had two caused turnovers apiece, while Cody Tranbarger made 12 saves in 49:32 of action, including five in the first quarter. Justin Imperatore logged the final 10:28 of action.

Middlebury held a 45-30 advantage in shots and 42-32 edge in ground balls. The Panthers went 1-3 on the man-up opportunities, while the Purple & White were 0-2.