Middlebury held off a late charge by Springfield, as the Panthers (5-7) picked up a 13-12 win over the Pride (6-3) on Youngman Field at Alumni Stadium. Middlebury returns to action on Saturday when it hosts Trinity at 2:00 p.m., while Springfield will visit Emerson on the same day.

Middlebury jumped out to a 4-0 lead behind goals from four different players. A.J. Kucinski opened up the scoring for the Panthers at the 12:55 mark when he came from behind the net. Matthew O'Neal followed from 13 yards out, before Wes Quinzani converted a dish from Henry Riehl in transition for a 3-0 lead. Riehl struck at the 5:14 mark, before the Pride responded with a pair of goals.

Leading 4-2 after one quarter, Middlebury used goals from Riehl and Stephen Clarke to make it a 6-2 game at the 12:34 mark of the second quarter. Springfield again responded with two goals, including a man-down tally from Phillip Dumont, cutting the advantage to 6-4 with 6:37 left in the second half.

Luke Peterson gave the Panthers a 7-4 lead when he converted an over-the-shoulder shot after a feed from O'Neal. Chase Goree scored with a man-up, before defender Jack DeFrino made it a 9-4 game with 1:46 remaining. Springfield scored twice in the final 37 seconds of the first half, making it a 9-6 game at the break.

The 4-0 run continued in the second half with a goal from Jack Vail and a man-up tally from Tom Hurley, making it a one-goal-game (9-8) at the 3:09 mark of the third quarter.

Middlebury's Kucinski found the back of the net with 1:26 remaining in the quarter, before Peterson scored another over-the-shoulder goal, putting his team up 11-8 after three quarters.

The Panthers extended their lead to 13-8 with 8:24 remaining, before the Pride went on their run. Ty Daugstrup and Vail brought the Pride within three (13-10) with 3:30 left to play. Lucas Habich converted a man-up goal with 1:30 remaining, cutting the lead to 13-11. Springfield won the ensuing face-off and was forced to call two timeouts before Habich scored from 18 yards out with 32 seconds left. Middlebury's Jake Madnick won the next face-off and Springfield was never able to get off a game-tying attempt.

Riehl led the Panthers with three goals and two assists, while Peterson netted three with a helper. Kucinski finished with two goals and two assists in the win, while DeFrino picked up eight ground balls and caused two turnovers. John Jackson won 8-12 face-offs in the game, while Madnick won 13-17 with eight ground balls. Charles Midgley made 11 saves in goal to pick up the victory. Kucinski extended his point streak to 11 games, while Riehl extended his mark to all 12 games.

Hurley scored three times and assisted on two others for Springfield, while Habich netted three goals to go along with an assist. Vail finished with two goals and an assist, Brendan Dooley caused three turnovers, while Jake Reynolds made 13 saves and picked up for ground balls.

Middlebury dominated the face-off X, winning 21-29, while also holding a sizeable 44-24 advantage in ground balls.