Middlebury scored once in each of the first two periods and added a pair of empty-netters for a 4-1 victory over Hamilton (10-5-2, 4-3-2) on Friday night in Kenyon Arena. The eighth-ranked Panthers (10-2-3, 6-1-2) and Continentals will meet again on Saturday with a 3:00 p.m. face-off.

Middlebury scored the only goal of the first period at the 13:55 mark. Anna Zumwinkle took a feed from the goal line by Sidney Portner and scored from the right point with a shot to the top-left corner of the net.

Hamilton had a chance to tie the game 5:02 into the second period, but Nancy Loh's shot after a nice feed from Mya Berretta was denied by Panther goaltender Lin Han.

Middlebury went up 2-0 at the 7:21 mark when Ellie Barney played the puck to Madie Leidt at the top of its own left faceoff circle. Leidt raced up the left wing and ripped a shot into the top-right corner of the net for her team-leading seventh goal of the season. Han kept it a 2-0 game with 1:30 remaining in the period, stretching far to her left to make a glove save on Kate Piacenza.

Hamilton made it a one-goal game with 4:11 remaining when Andrea Rockey redirected a deflected pass to Kate Piacenza, who scored with a quick release from the left face-off circle.

The Continentals pulled Sammy Johnson twice late in the game, but Katherine Jackson and Katarina Shuchuk added empty-net goals to seal the win.

Han finished the game with nine saves to earn the victory, while Johnson made 18 stops for Hamilton. The games saw only one penalty, ironically called on Johnson.