A 7-0 run during the first half turned a 1-1 score into an 8-1 edge, lifting the Middlebury women's lacrosse team to a NESCAC Championship victory over host Trinity by a 10-7 score on Sheppard Field. Middlebury tallies its league-leading eighth conference title overall and first since 2007, snapping Trinity's run of five-straight league titles. The second-seeded Panthers improve to 17-1, while the top-seeded Bantams fall to 15-3. The Panthers earn the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, while Trinity will likely receive an at-large invitation when the field is announced on Sunday evening.

Middlebury's Hollis Perticone and Trinity's Kiley Coffey traded goals in the first five minutes of the opening half, but Middlebury scored the next seven goals to take a commanding 8-1 lead into the break. Chrissy Ritter tallied the go-ahead goal with 18:09 left on the clock, while Mary O'Connell and Bridget Instrum recorded unassisted tallies at 15:59 and 13:27, respectively. A little more than a minute later, Megan Griffin made it a 5-1 game on an assist from Instrum, while Perticone found the back of the net on a free-position attempt.

The score remained a five-goal Middlebury advantage at 6-1 until Perticone put home her third goal of the opening half with at the 3:59 mark. Alli Sciarretta completed the run with a score just 38 seconds before the halftime break on a helper from O'Connell. 

Trinity managed just three shots in the final 25 minutes of the first half. Allie Barrett hit the post with 15:59 on the clock, while Georgia Mergner had a free-position shot blocked and Panther goalkeeper Katie Mandigo saved a free-position shot by Trinity's Martha Griffin later in the first half.

Out of the break, Abby McInerney ended a scoring drought that covered nearly 27 minutes for the home team, scoring with 28:38 remaining in the game. Barrett scored just 2:33 later to pull the Bantams to within five (8-3) with 26:05 showing on the clock.

O'Connell scored for Middlebury at the 22:19 mark for a 9-3 Panther edge, but Barrett fed Clare Lyne on a Bantam goal and Griffin scored another to make the score 9-5 with 12:01 left. Neither team scored for more than five minutes before Instrum gave Middlebury a 10-5 lead with a tally at the 6:50 mark.  Griffin converted on a free-position shot for the Bantams with 4:58 remaining, the only goal scored on six free-positions shots in the game against Mandigo. Trinity's Karly Simpson assisted Lyne on another tally at the 4:08 mark.

Both defenses caused two turnovers over the final four minutes, but Trinity couldn't get off another shot and Middlebury was content to pass the ball around and run out the clock.

Instrum and O'Connell joined Perticone as three-point scorers for Middlebury with two goals and one assist apiece, while Megan Griffin added a goal and one assist for the Panther offense.  Ritter tallied a team-best three draw controls, while Alex White had three ground balls. With her one assist in Sunday's win, O'Connell moved into second in the single-season laurels with 37 helpers, while her 74 career assists are fifth. Mandigo finished with four saves in front of the Panther net. 

Martha Griffin and Lyne scored twice for the Bantams and Simpson notched two assists, while Griffin also scooped a game-high four ground balls and Lyne tacked on a game-best five draw controls. Lara Guida led all defenders with three caused turnovers and added two ground balls, while Zoe Ferguson and Emily Mooney combined to tally four stops in the Bantam goal.