The Middlebury men's lacrosse team (8-7, 6-4) outscored Williams 7-2 in the second quarter and held off a late charge from the Ephs (7-8, 5-5) for a 13-10 victory Wednesday on Youngman Field at Alumni Stadium.

The Panthers jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead early in the first quarter on a goal from the right side by Billy Curtis and a quick-stick score from outside the crease by Russell Thorndike. The Ephs cut the deficit in half when Calvin Caputo tucked a rising shot just under the crossbar with 9:30 remaining. A quick stick goal from Middlebury's Gray Thomas less than a minute later pushed the lead back to a pair (3-1), before Williams closed out the stanza with tallies from Jake Haase and Caputo to deadlock the contest at 3-3 after 15 minutes.

Middlebury began the second stanza with four-consecutive goals spanning 3:33 of action, grabbing a 7-3 lead when Thomas capped the run on a right-handed shot from 10 yards out with 9:35 left before halftime. The visitors scored the ensuing two goals, capped by a hard shot from Spencer Goodbar that dipped just under the crossbar to pull Williams to within two (7-5). The Panthers ended the half with the final three goals, as Tyler Forbes and Finn Muldoon scored 12 seconds apart for a 10-5 halftime advantage.

The teams both found the back of the opposing net once in the low-scoring third quarter. Jack Sheehan ripped a hard shot from 20 yards out during an extra-man opportunity with 13:36 left. Williams' Goodbar scored his second goal of the contest at the 9:00 mark, firing the ball into the top-left corner to make it an 11-6 Panther lead going into the fourth.

Williams slowly chipped away at the deficit, recording the first four goals of the quarter. Caputo started the run with an extra-man tally, while Haase capped it with 1:35 remaining when he ran from behind the goal and made it a one-goal contest (11-10) in favor of Middlebury. The Panthers won the ensuing faceoff and Forbes scored on an empty net as Eph goalie Matt Freitas came out of his crease to be an extra defender. Middlebury put the game away when Luke Simpson collected the groundball on the next faceoff, firing a 50-yard shot into the empty net with 45 seconds left for the final 13-10 score.

Thorndike paced the Panther attack with three goals and two assists, while Thomas and Forbes both scored twice. William Munroe had a big day at the faceoff dot, winning 14-20 and collecting a season-best 10 groundballs. Simpson led Middlebury with three caused turnovers and scooped up four rollers, while Muldoon also had four. Finn O'Connor (8-7) earned the win in the Panther goal with 11 saves.

Haase and Caputo each produced four points with three goals and an assist for Williams, while Goodbar finished with two goals and a helper and Pearse Glavin had three assists. Noah Dewbrey posted a team-best four groundballs. Freitas took the loss in the Eph net, finishing with 15 stops.

Middlebury held a 48-30 advantage in shots and won the groundball battle, 35-28.