The Middlebury men's lacrosse team scored eight-straight goals to break open a close game, as the Panthers extended their winning streak to six with a 15-10 NESCAC road win at Colby on Saturday. Middlebury (10-4, 7-2) hosts Williams at 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday in the regular-season finale on Youngman Field at Alumni Stadium.

The Mules opened the scoring midway through the first quarter on an unassisted goal by Austin Sayre.

Middlebury quickly took its first lead of the game minutes later, scoring a pair of goals in a span of eight seconds. Sean Carroll tied the game at 1-1 with an assist from Kyle Soroka with 4:43 left in the opening frame, while John Jackson took care of the second goal by himself. He won the ensuing faceoff following Carroll's goal, collected the ground ball, raced toward the cage and to pick up his first goal of the season.

Soroka pushed the margin to 3-1 on a feed from Carroll, but Colby narrowed the gap back to one with 1:26 on the clock on a tally by Garen Fabian. The Panthers regained their two-goal lead (4-2) when Tim Giarrusso scored one second before the horn sounded.

The Mules scored four of the five goals in the second quarter, taking a 6-5 lead into the half. Jack Gould scored the lone goal for the Panthers, an unassisted marker in the early stages of the period.

After the hosts went ahead 7-5 early in the third quarter, Middlebury's offense went on its big run. Henry Riehl and Giarrusso scored 1:11 apart to tie the score at 7-7 with 8:04 remaining. Giarrusso factored in on a pair of goals late in the period that were separated by 13 seconds. Gould put the guests back in front (8-7) with 25 seconds left in the quarter on a feed from Giarrusso, while Giarrusso found the back of the net 13 seconds later on an assist from Nick Peterson.

The Panthers carried that momentum into the final 15 minutes, netting the first four goals to take a 13-7 lead. Jon Broome, who extended his point streak to 13-straight games, assisted on a goal by Carroll and Jack Cleary made it an 11-7 score, ripping a high shot from the left side. Riehl and Soroka added goals less than a minute apart as Middlebury's lead ballooned to 13-7 with 10 minutes left in regulation.

Sam Wasserman halted the Panther run and ended an 18:31 scoreless drought by the Mules when he tallied on an assist from Donald Vivian with 8:40 to play.

Middlebury took its biggest lead of the game (15-8) on goals by Broome and Gould in the final five minutes, while Colby tacked on two in the final stages to make it a 15-10 final.

Giarrusso boasted a five-point effort (3g, 2a) and raised his season total to 28 goals, leaving him one short of a single-season career high. Gould added three goals, while Soroka and Carroll each scored twice and had an assist. Jackson was dominant at the faceoff X winning 20-22 chances, while scooping up a game-high 14 ground balls. Peterson dished out a pair of assists and collected four ground balls.

Sayre led all played with five goals, while on the defensive end of the field Sean Dougherty had four ground balls and Graham Lian caused four turnovers.

Will Ernst registered seven saves to earn the win in goal for the Panthers and teammate Miller Steinle made a pair of stops in the fourth quarter. Charles Midgley also tallied a pair of saves for the Panthers in the second quarter. 

Colby goalie Dylan Rothenberg registered 17 saves, as Middlebury held a 57-30 advantage in shots and posted a 32-23 edge in ground balls. The Panthers were 1-2 in extra-man opportunities and the Mules scored on their only chance.