The Middlebury women's lacrosse team claimed its fourth-straight NCAA Championship with a nail-biting 10-9 win over NESCAC foe Tufts. The Panthers trailed by as many as four, but never wavered to secure the program's 11th title. Goalie Elizabeth Savage was phenomenal between the sticks, stopping a season-high 10 shots to earn a spot on the All-Tournament team. Hope Shue was named the Most Outstanding Player, while Caroline Adams, Caroline Messer and Skylar Lach also earned NCAA Tournament honors. 
 
HIGHLIGHTS

• Tufts came out strong, rattling off four unanswered goals to start the contest. Allie Zorn got things going with 1:11 expired when she muscled her way through a trio of defenders and slotted her bid into the upper-right corner. 
• With the shot clock ticking down to single digits, Margie Carden lifted her stick above a pair of Panthers to find nylon at the 12:21 mark.
• Ella Lesperance caught a pass while cutting to the goal and tucked the ball inside the right panel for a player-up tally with nearly five minutes gone.
• The Jumbos capped the scoring spree at the 8:43 mark when Caroline Conaghan drove straight in and slipped the ball inside the right post.
• Middlebury broke through 43 seconds later when Maggie Coughlin rounded the goal from the left side and found nylon while being swarmed by the Jumbo defense.
• The Panthers cut the deficit to 4-2 with 6:57 showing when Shue's eight-meter attempt from the center hash tucked inside the right pipe.
• Middlebury made it a one-goal game (4-3) with just over a minute to go on a free-position goal by Kelcey Dion down the middle.
• The Panthers knotted the contest at four apiece with 1:20 elapsed in the second stanza. Coughlin came from behind the goal and wrapped around the left pipe to find the upper-right 90.
• Tufts responded with back-to-back tallies to take a 6-4 edge. Carden spun around a defender and found nylon at the 11:29 mark. An initial bid by Lesperance hit the pipe, but Elsa Schutt scooped up the roller and scored to put the Jumbos ahead by a pair.
• Middlebury closed the gap to one (6-5) at the 7:48 mark when Shue twisted her stick around a defender and scored while falling to the ground on a free-position opportunity. 
• Over the next five minutes, the Panthers peppered the net, but goalie Pascale de Buren came up with four-straight saves to keep the lead.
• The Panthers broke through with two minutes to go in the second. Lach came around the net and snuck the ball inside the left pipe to knot the contest at 6-6.
• The Jumbos responded 36 ticks later when Schulyer Lloyd found space over the left shoulder of Savage for the 7-6 edge at the intermission.
• Savage came out of the break strong, making three key stops early. The span of saves was highlighted with 7:59 left when Carden threatened with a cross-goal chance, but the goalie dove toward the left pipe and snagged the ball.
• Middlebury deadlocked the game at 7-7 with 6:55 left when Dion converted from the far right hash of the eight-meter arc.
• Less than a minute later, Tufts' Kate Mastrobuono tried to wrap around the left pipe, but Savage thwarted the chance with her stick.
• The defense continued to shine as Haley Hamilton caused a turnover while a player-down. Kylie Wilson scooped up the groundball as the Panthers successfully cleared the ball and ran out the penalty in the waning minutes. 
• Dion completed her hat trick at the 10:21 mark of the final frame, converting a free-position marker for the 8-7 edge.
• The Jumbos leveled the game just over a minute later when Emma Joyce found the left panel from a tight-right angle.
• Middlebury took a 9-8 lead with 5:59 on the clock off the stick of Shue, who drove in from the left hash of the arc and found the right corner.
• With just under five minutes remaining, Grace Mumford turned over Mastrobuono. The Panthers cleared the ball and called a timeout with 3:24 left.
• At the 2:07 mark, Shue gave Middlebury some breathing room, dodging a defender and rifling a shot from the left side of the eight-meter to make it 10-8.
• Tufts won the ensuing draw control, but Maddie Ackerman knocked the ball loose and Lucy Bishop collected it to give the Panthers possession at the 1:46 mark. 
• Following a Middlebury timeout, the Jumbos forced a turnover and went a player-up with 59 ticks left after the Panthers were assessed a yellow card.
• With 30 seconds to go, Allie Zorn tried to power her way through Wilson and her shot swiped nylon, but the attacker was called for the charge to give the Panthers the ball back.
• The Jumbos did not back down, cutting the deficit to one (10-9) with a free-position marker from Conaghan with 11 seconds remaining.
• Tufts looked to collect the final draw control, but the ball rolled around the turf during a scramble for possession, allowing the waning seconds to go off the clock and clinch Middlebury's 10-9 triumph. 

NOTES

• The Panthers hoisted the trophy for the 11th time and fourth in a row, improving to 85-18 in NCAA Tournament history. Both metrics rank second behind The College of New Jersey's 88 victories and 12 National Championships. 
• Middlebury and Tufts met for the 32nd time, as the Panthers claimed their second-straight one-goal victory over the Jumbos and 27th overall.
• This marked the second meeting in the title tilt between the conference foes, with Middlebury claiming the 2022 championship 13-5.
• The program has claimed 53-consecutive games away from Peter Kohn Field.
• With 10 goals, Middlebury has now tallied double-digits in 72-straight contests.
  With four tallies today, Shue resets her single-season goals mark with 86 this season. She had 83 in 2023 and 82 in 2024 to secure the top-three spots in the Middlebury books. The senior tallied 23 markers during the tournament, leap-frogging her second-place tally of 21 set in 2023. She graduates as Division III's all-time leading goal scorer with 80.
• Savage improved to 17-0, standing between the sticks for a pair of NCAA Championship victories.
• The squad found nylon 85 times during the postseason which is tied  for fourth-most with Middlebury's 2019 Championship team and Gettysburg's 2011 squad.
• Emma McCann collected her second NCAA Championship of the year, winning a title with the field hockey program in the fall.

The senior class of Burdine Atherton, Coughlin, Dion, Gina Driscoll, Catie Duggan, Zari Garfield, Mumford, Jamee Numan, Madison Paylor, Shue, Anna Spehr, Libby TenBarge and Wilson close out their careers a perfect 20-0 in the national postseason bracket, including 8-0 at Donald J. Kerr Stadium.

POSTGAME PRESS CONFERENCE