The third-ranked Middlebury women's lacrosse team snapped #8 The College of New Jersey's (TCNJ) six-game winning-streak with a 13-9 road victory on Thursday afternoon. With the win, the Panthers improve to 6-0, while the Lions move to 6-1 with their first loss of the season. Middlebury plays its third game of the week on Saturday when it travels to Bates for a noon start, before returning home on Sunday to host Plymouth State at 1:00 p.m.
TCNJ wasted little time getting on the board, scoring just 31 seconds into the opening frame when Ally Tobler converted a free-position attempt from the right side of the arc.
Lily Riseberg sent a feed from behind the goal to a cutting
Jane Earley, who slipped the ball over the shoulder of goalie Julia Charest with 13:02 showing to even the score. The Lions took a 2-1 edge with 7:15 left in the first quarter when Tobler scooped up a loose ball, spun around and found the back of the goal. The Panthers answered 2:42 later when
Grace Getman deked a defender before burying the ball in the bottom-left corner. With 1:06 to go, Anna Delvin's sidearm shot trickled through traffic to put TCNJ up 3-2 heading into the second quarter.
Earley struck again 1:48 into the second session when she drove to the net on a free-position attempt and snuck the ball inside the right pipe to make it 3-3.
Erin Nicholas gave Middlebury a 4-3 edge with 7:35 remaining in the half. Her initial shot was stopped by Charest, but the ball fell to the ground and crossed the goal line.
Hope Shue tallied a quick-stick goal and converted a free-position attempt to increase the Panther lead to 6-3. With 1:41 remaining in the half, Earley sent a pass from the right pipe to the left where Riseberg was waiting and quickly scored to make it 7-3. TCNJ cut into the Middlebury advantage with one minute remaining in the half when Jennifer LaRocca found the back of the goal to make it 7-4 at the break.
The Lions sliced the deficit to two (7-5) with an extra-player goal by Devlin at the 9:58 mark of the third quarter. The teams traded the next four goals before Earley struck with nine ticks left on the clock to give the Panthers a 10-7 lead heading into the final frame.
LaRocca brought TCNJ to within two (10-8) with a goal in the first minute of the fourth stanza. Middlebury answered with tallies by Getman and Shue to increase the advantage to 12-8. The middle part of the quarter was a defensive battle, with Panther goalie
Annie Enrietto making several key stops to preserve Middlebury's four-goal cushion. Getman added a free-position marker with 2:11 remaining to make it 13-8. Lion Natalie Berry scored with a low shot to the bottom-right corner to trim the deficit back to four (13-9) with just under two minutes left in the game, but the Panthers were able to run off the clock and hang on for the 13-9 victory.
Enrietto made 10 saves in goal to earn the win for Middlebury, while Charest had seven stops for TCNJ.
The Panthers were paced by Riseberg who had a game-high five assists to go along with one goal. Earley and Getman each scored three times and dished out an assist, while Shue had three markers.
Madison Paylor scooped up a game-high four groundballs, while Makenzie Smith won four draw controls.
LaRocca led the Lions with five points (3G, 2A), while Tobler had three goals and one assist. Devlin scored twice and won three draw controls.
