Middlebury scored twice in less than a minute early in the second half, breaking a 1-1 tie as the Panthers defeated visiting Castleton 3-1 Wednesday on Dragone Field. Middlebury (4-1) returns to NESCAC play on Saturday, hosting Bowdoin at 11:00 a.m., while the Spartans (1-5-2) are at Colby-Sawyer later in the day for a 3:30 p.m. kickoff.

Castleton opened the scoring, getting on the scoreboard 1:42 into the match. Izzy Hutnak carried the ball into the Middlebury penalty area and eluded Panther keeper Ursula Alwang. Once in the clear, she crossed the ball to the far post to a waiting Shelby McLenithan, who redirected the pass in for a 1-0 Spartan lead.

Middlebury came close to getting the equalizer in the fifth minute when Grace Woroch laced a shot from 18 yards out that Castleton goalie Jessica Binkowski punched over the net.

The Panthers tied the match with 17:38 remaining in the half on Sabrina Glaser's first collegiate goal. Rebecca Palacios centered the ball from the right side and Glaser made a sliding touch to tie the score.

With the game tied at 1-1 at the start of the new half, the hosts struck quickly for a pair of goals. Katherine Hobbs tied the game at a goal apiece as she settled a pass from Adrianna Gildner in the Castleton penalty area and quickly turned a fired a shot under the cross bar 2:14 into the fresh half.

Middlebury made it a two-goal cushion 58 seconds later when Glaser one-touched a crossing pass from Abigail Blyler for her second tally of the game.

The Spartans had a chance to get one of the goals back in the 68th minute as Bronwen Hopwood cut in from the left side, but her rising shot was snared by new Panther keeper Kate Reinmuth.

Reinmuth made one save in the second half to earn the win for Middlebury, while Alwang had two stops in the opening 45 minutes. Binkowski finished the game with 10 saves as the hosts held a 23-5 advantage in shots and took all five corner kicks.