The top-ranked Middlebury field hockey team fell by a 2-1 score to #23 Endicott on Sunday as the Gulls scored with 3:10 left in overtime. The setback snapped a 60-game non-conference unbeaten streak for the Panthers dating back to the 2017 season.
 
HIGHLIGHTS

• Endicott manufactured the first chance with 45 seconds elapsed. Following a penalty corner, Riley Perkins cut to the right and blasted a shot that was blocked aside by Lily Stockwell.
• The Panthers looked to get on the board at the 5:56 mark. Tessa Herbst sent a bid from just inside the top of the circle following a penalty corner, but Gull goalie Faith Minickene slid out and made the save with her pads.
• Madaket Rzepka nearly tallied the first goal with 4:14 remaining in the first quarter off a deflected pass from Grace Keefe that sailed over the top of the cage.
• With three seconds left in the opening frame, Herbst blasted a rising bid that bounced off Minickene's chest for the save to keep the game scoreless.
• The Panthers continued the pressure with 6:44 remaining in the second frame. Herbst, Emma McCann and Hadley Crowther each sent on-target bids over a span of 42 seconds, but Minickene came up clutch with three-straight stops.
• Middlebury grabbed the lead with 5:47 left in the second stanza. Rzepka blasted a shot that bounced off Minickene's chest. McCann raced to the loose ball and pushed it into the right corner for a 1-0 edge. 
• Endicott nearly tallied the equalizer after a penalty stroke was called 52 seconds later.   Perkins stepped up to the penalty spot and sent a riser toward the right side of the cage that was denied by a perfectly timed diving save from goalie Izzy Redzic.
• The visitors kept the pressure up in the waning seconds of the first half on back-to-back penalty corners. Three Panthers tallied shots, but the Gull defense stepped up with two blocked shots and a save to keep it a one-goal contest.
• With 7:08 left in the third, Ally Kennedy forced a turnover deep in the defensive end and flipped a pass to McCann. The forward fired toward the left post, but Minickene stuck her right foot out to make the stop.
• Endicott tied the contest with 7:49 remaining. Following a penalty corner, Perkins sent a shot into traffic, which Reagan Hicks deflected into the left side of the cage to make it 1-1.
• McCann had a chance to give the Panthers the lead with 1:54 left, but Minickene stepped up with another stop to send the game to overtime.
• The Gulls earned a quality chance with 3:23 expired in the first overtime, but a shot by Tori Swanson was blocked by a Middlebury defender.
• The Panthers quickly transitioned down the field, as a knuckling bid from the right side by Addie Chandler was kicked away by Minickene.
• The hosts tallied the game-winning score when Swanson gained possession of a loose ball in the offensive zone. She dribbled to her left and snuck a bouncing shot into the bottom-right corner with 3:10 on the clock for the 2-1 final tally.

NOTES

• McCann's goal was her fourth of the season with each of them coming in the last three games.
• The Panthers played in their fourth overtime contest this fall, matching the total of the 2005 team.
• The programs played for the fourth time in field hockey.

The Panthers return to action on Saturday when they host #13 Bowdoin at 12:00 p.m.