The top-ranked and top-seeded Middlebury women's lacrosse team is set to host the remainder of the NESCAC Tournament, clashing with #11/fourth-seeded Trinity on Saturday at 12:00 p.m. from Peter Kohn Field. A second semifinal matchup between #2 Tufts and #4 Wesleyan will follow, with the winners advancing to Sunday's title tilt at 1:00 p.m.
 
ABOUT MIDDLEBURY

• Middlebury is one of three teams to qualify for all 24 league tournaments and has earned the top seed on 16 occasions.
• The Panthers seek their 13th conference crown and third in the last four campaigns.
• The squad completed a fifth consecutive unblemished NESCAC slate in the regular season, touting a 75-0 mark that stretch.
• Middlebury has claimed 46 of its last 47 contests on Peter Kohn Field, with the lone loss coming to Wesleyan during last season's league semifinal.
• Saturday's decision marked the navy and white's 40th victory (40-10) during NESCAC postseason competition. Trinity is second with 24 triumphs.
• The Panthers bested eighth-seeded Bates by an 18-6 tally in the quarterfinal round, scoring 10 of the first 12 goals and the final seven markers of the bout.
• Middlebury has advanced to the NESCAC Championship game 15 times.

PANTHERS TO WATCH

• Caroline Adams resides among the conference's elite in multiple statistical categories. The senior paces her peers in goals (52), goals per game (3.25), points (80) and points per game (5.00). Adams became the first player in program history to surpass 400 draw controls and currently sits with 438 heading into the weekend.
• Haley Hamilton has co-starred alongside Adams in the scoring column, ranking second on the team in goals (47) and points (53). The Panther has logged three or more markers in 10 different games, including a four-goal flurry on Saturday against the Bobcats.
• Skylar Lach has held a hot stick of late, logging 12 goals across her last three contests. She fired six markers against Williams in the regular-season finale and followed with her seventh hat trick of the year against Bates.
• Other offensive contributors have been Maeve Lee (24G, 2A), Parker Hanson (7G, 21A) and Siobhan Colin (14G, 13A).
• On the other end, Caroline Messer has spearheaded the nation's second-best scoring defense, causing 33 cough-ups and digging out 45 ground balls. Jaime Patton-Martin has bolstered the unit with 19 caused turnovers and 19 rollers.
• Other contributors on the defensive end have been Emma McCann (19GB, 17CT), Lauren Giuriceo (18GB, 17 CT) and Macy Sweeny (17GB, 12CT).
• Lucy Bishop and Adams have dominated the draws throughout the campaign. Adams paces the squad with 89, while Bishop follows closely behind with 81, alongside 21 grounders and 12 forced miscues.
• Between the pipes, Elizabeth Savage owns a 4.82 goals against average (GAA), good for the top mark across all three NCAA divisions. She has amassed 61 stops across 16 starts and turned away seven Bobcat bids.

ABOUT TRINITY

• The Bantams earned a spot in the NESCAC field for the 17th consecutive campaign and the 20th overall.
• Trinity secured the fourth seed for the second time, marking the squad's highest seeding since landing at #3 in the 2017 edition.
• The Bantams pursue their sixth league title and first since 2015.
• Trinity paces the conference in ground balls (380) and caused turnovers (217) while slotting third in both player-up (1.94) and player-down (0.25) goals per contest.

BANTAMS TO WATCH

• The tandem of Grace Denious and Kelsey Restivo has motored the Bantam offensive group this season. Denious leads the team with 51 points (29G, 22A), slotting eighth leaguewide in assists per contest (1.38) and 10th in points per game (3.19). She has posted 14 free-position tallies on 19 attempts entering the weekend.
• Restivo has logged 49 points on 29 markers and 20 helpers, including one goal and four assists in Saturday's quarterfinal win over Amherst. She recorded back-to-back six-point efforts against Connecticut College and Bowdoin in April.
• Kaeley Zito and Alex Lesko have also eclipsed the 20-goal threshold this season. Zito owns 24 tallies and seven helpers while recording a team-high 35 draw controls, five ahead of Denious in the category. Lesko has rustled the net on 22 occasions with six assists.
• Samantha Hark has headlined a strong defensive group, disrupting 51 possessions and chasing down 30 ground balls over her 16 starts. She enters the semifinal matchup having caused multiple turnovers in 10 straight games and has amassed three or more in nine battles.
• Emily Ambrozy, June Trodden and Sydney Aitkenhead have all contributed at least 20 caused turnovers. Ambrozy sits second on the team in ground balls (44), while triggering 25 turnovers. Trodden has posted exactly 24 ground balls, caused turnovers and draw controls. Aitkenhead has corralled 36 rollers and logged 21 takeaways.
• In goal, Alison MacDougall has started all 16 contests and ranks fourth among NESCAC starters with a 7.65 GAA. Her 102 total saves are the third most among her peers, while her clip of 6.38 saves per game slots fourth.

SERIES HISTORY

• Middlebury and Trinity square off for the second time this season and the 49th overall. The Panthers possess a 31-17 advantage in the all-time series.
• The teams met on March 14 in Vermont, with the navy and white securing a 10-4 triumph.
• Saturday's clash is the fourth installment between the sides in the league bracket. The Bantams prevailed in the 2012 and 2013 title bouts, while Middlebury claimed the last two meetings in the 2016 championship and the 2018 semifinal.

ABOUT TUFTS

• Tufts, the reigning NESCAC champions, earned the second seed in the tournament for the second consecutive season.
• The Jumbos are chasing their fourth overall conference title and have appeared in the championship showdown five times.
• Tufts opened the tournament with a sharp performance against seventh-seeded Colby, running away with a 20-7 decision.
• The Jumbos pace the league in nearly every offensive category, including goals per game (15.94), assists per game (8.31), shots per game (33.50) and shots on goal per game (26.06).
• Eleanor Helm has headlined the squad with 74 points on 39 markers and 35 helpers, ranking third in the league at 4.63 points per contest. Her assist total ranks second only to Amherst's Kate Becker.
• Allie Zorn boasts a team-high 44 goals, the fourth-highest total among her NESCAC counterparts, while Schuyler Lloyd has contributed 40 goals and 28 assists.
• Sophie Haas (29GB, 20CT) and Nicola Donlan (28GB, 12CT) have powered Tufts on the defensive end. Elsa Schutt slots fourth in the conference with 80 draw controls.
• Devon Chipman has stood tall between the Jumbo pipes this season. Across 16 starts, Chipman has accumulated 92 saves and a 13-2 record.

ABOUT WESLEYAN

• The Cardinals secured the third seed for the third time and the first since 2019.
• Wesleyan seeks its initial NESCAC crown, having appeared in a trio of title games.
• The red and black used a dominant 14-3 win over sixth-seeded Williams to advance to the championship weekend.
• The Cardinals have conceded 95 goals across 16 games, the second-lowest total in the league behind only Middlebury (79). Offensively, the group stands fourth in goals per game (11.94) and fifth in helpers per contest (5.69).
• Addie Cummings leads her team in goals (36) and points (48) across 15 starts and has scored at least twice in five of her last six outings. At 2.40 goals per contest, she slots 10th in the conference.
• Dylan Green ranks second on the team with 42 points, including a squad-best 16 assists. Other contributors include Mya Waryas (25G, 11A), Elle Priesing (17G, 10A) and Maddie Shoemaker (20G, 3A).
• Kyra Browne and Lindsey Diomede lead the squad with 45 and 44 draw controls, respectively. Diomede has been a force defensively, causing a NESCAC-best 53 turnovers while scooping 49 rollers. Bridget Horst has chipped in 33 draw controls, 20 forced miscues and 20 ground balls.
• In goal, Izzy Weintraub has served as one of the nation's top goalies. Her 5.87 GAA ranks second in the league and 10th nationally, while her 0.522 save percentage sits eighth in Division III.

TOURNAMENT INFORMATION

• The top eight teams in the conference qualify for the NESCAC Women's Lacrosse Championship. Quarterfinal games were held on Saturday, April 25, with the semifinals and championship games on Saturday, May 2, and Sunday, May 3, respectively. The tournament champion receives an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Championship. 
• Championship Central
• NESCAC Championship Records

The winners of Saturday's semifinal showdowns will square off for conference hardware on Sunday at 1:00 p.m.