The #9/second-seeded Middlebury field hockey team battled #6/third-seeded Bates to the brink but fell 1-0 in a shootout on Saturday in the NESCAC Semifinals. The victory propels the Bobcats to the conference title game on Sunday against #7/fourth-seeded Wesleyan at noon.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Megan Fuqua fired a bid from outside the circle that was tipped toward the left side of the cage with 11:54 elapsed. Donohue read the redirection and kicked the ball away for the save.
• Middlebury looked to jump ahead on its first penalty corner at the 16:52 mark. Fuqua blasted an insert from Ellie Harrison that slid just left of the post.
• Bates continued the pressure at the 23:23 mark. Sophia Cordoni hustled into the attacking zone with an open goal. Lily Stockwell put her stick down just in time to secure the defensive save.
• McMichael nearly put the Panthers in front with 24:33 elapsed with a rising shot shaded to the right. Donohue stuffed the bid with her blocker to keep the game scoreless.
• Middlebury had a mirage of penalty corners to open the third quarter. Ellie Harrison and Addie Chandler logged point-blank shots just 61 seconds apart that Donohue denied. 
• Caroline Nowak blasted a shot from the top of the circle off a penalty corner insert with 34 seconds left in the third. Panther goalie Izzy Redzic stuck her stick out and deflected the shot away.
• Sarah Bona tried her luck at the 51:09 mark, collecting a pass from Emma McNealy and spinning past a Bobcat defender. The senior fired, but Donohue stuffed the chance.
• Georgianne Defeo grabbed a pass from Chandler and lifted a quick flip between two defenders that Donohue kicked away with five minutes remaining in regulation.
• With 56:20 on the clock, Fuqua blasted a sizzling shot that Donohue steered aside to send the game to overtime.
• Neither side recorded a shot in the first extra session.
• At the 73:48 mark, Sophie O'Sullivan blasted a reverse sweep shaded to the right that Redzic kicked away.
• Haley Dwight had a shot in space with 4:37 left, but Redzic sprawled out to deny the chance.
• Emma McNealy had the final two chances in the second overtime, but both went wide to push the game to a shootout.
• After both sides missed their initial attempt, Moloney-Kolenberg and McMichael converted their bids to tie the shootout period at one apiece.
• The Bobcats and Panthers could not find the cage in consecutive attempts until Sophia O'Sullivan made a quick one-two move and pushed her bid past Redzic to put Bates up 2-1.
• Eliza Cho tried to knot the contest with a reverse sweep, but the shot rose over the top of the cage. 
• Catherine Russell sent her attempt wide, setting up the Panthers for the final chance to send the game to a second round of the shootout. Chandler darted in and tried to tuck it in the right post. Donohue deflected the ball away to seal the shootout triumph.

NOTES

• Redzic made three saves in the contest.
• The programs met in the NESCAC Semifinals for the second consecutive season and the sixth time overall in the conference tournament.

Middlebury will await its NCAA Tournament fate when the full field is released on Sunday at 9:00 p.m.