The top-ranked Middlebury women's hockey team earned a spot in the NCAA National Championship Game, skating to a 3-2 victory over #3 Elmira on Friday night in front of a large crowd in Kenyon Arena. The Panthers (26-0-0) will face Gustavus Adolphus (25-3-2) for the program's fourth NCAA title and sixth overall on Saturday at 7:00 p.m., while Plattsburgh State and Elmira skate in the third-place contest at 3:00 p.m. The Soaring Eagles (25-3-1) saw their 15-game winning streak come to a halt with the loss
Tickets will be free to all spectators for the two games and can be picked up at the box office inside the Peterson Family Athletics Complex beginning at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, March 19.
The Panthers, the lone remaining undefeated team, have a chance to become the first program in Division III history to finish with a perfect record. Middlebury's last appearance in the championship game came in 2013 when they finished as the runner-up.
The teams played a fast-paced opening period with Middlebury getting the first quality scoring chance just past the mid-way mark.
Jenna Letterie skated up the left wing and fired a low shot that Elmira goalie Leonie-Louise Kuehberger turned away with her pad. The Soaring Eagles countered with an opportunity minutes later when Claire Elfring took a low shot from the left circle that Panther netminder
Sophia Merageas kicked out with her left skate. Middlebury ended the period with a strong penalty kill with
Caroline Cutter coming up with a key blocked shot and Merageas corralling an attempt from the point by Jenny Heath.
The hosts opened the scoring with 11:50 on the clock in the middle frame when
Cat Appleyard snapped a one-timer from the right side of the net off a short feed from
Katie Hargrave. The tally was Appleyard's 10th power-play goal of the season and 13th overall. The Soaring Eagles knotted the game up a minute later, when Eliza Beaudin put a shot from the bottom of the right circle between Merageas and the post. The Panthers reclaimed their one-goal lead with 7:16 remaining, as
Molly MacQueen won a puck battle in the corner and set
Kylie Quinlan up in front of the net and she slid a shot around Kuehberger for her fourth marker in the last two games.
Middlebury gained a two-goal cushion with 8:13 expired in the final stanza, as Letterie set up
Madie Leidt on the doorstep, who redirected the puck inside the left post for her team-leading 18th goal of the season. The Soaring Eagles pulled back to within a score with 4:14 remaining, as Holley Riva charged the net and knocked in a perfect centering pass from Erika Goleniak to make it a 3-2 contest.
Elmira pulled Kuehberger for an extra skater in the final 1:28, but the Panthers' top-ranked defense did not allow a shot to keep the final tally at 3-2.
Merageas finished with 16 saves to improve to 19-0-0 for Middlebury, while Kuehberger registered 29 saves on 32 shots.
Elmira became just the third team this season to score more than one goal in a game against the Panthers, who have allowed one goal or less in 23 of their 26 games.
