Middlebury College

The top-ranked Middlebury women's lacrosse team moved out to an 11-0 advantage, breezing by #14 The College of New Jersey (TCNJ) with a 19-4 win during Sunday's NCAA Regional Final. With the triumph, the Panthers secured a spot in the national semifinals for the seventh straight year.
 
HIGHLIGHTS

• The hosts opened the scoring 2:56 into the matchup. Caroline Messer plucked the ball from the air and dashed upfield in transition, setting up a wrap-around finish for Siobhan Colin to establish a 1-0 advantage.
• Haley Hamilton helped the margin grow 36 seconds later, hauling in a feed from Caroline Adams at the top and rustling the left panel. 
• Middlebury rattled off four goals in less than two minutes to establish a 6-0 lead. Skylar Lach tallied twice, splitting a double team and dunking a bouncer before striking again with the extra player at the 8:51 mark. Maddie Ackerman turned a Parker Hanson pass into a player-up finish, while Adams wrinkled the nylon with 8:04 remaining.
• Kendall Coyne maintained the momentum with eight minutes elapsed, one-timing a crisp feed from Hanson into the right side for a seven-goal margin.
• The Panthers had a trio of chances over 27 seconds to bolster the quick start with 8:48 gone, but Lion goalie Hailey Wexler stuffed all three opportunities. Her best stop came against Adams on the doorstep as the netminder elevated her stick to deny the bid.
• Maggie Spehr skipped a central shot as she was falling that snuck by Wexler with 2:07 to play, while Maeve Lee logged an unassisted tally 39 seconds later to push the lead to 9-0.
• CJ Kole looked to put TCNJ on the board with nine ticks left in the frame, but her shot was tipped and Middlebury goalie Elizabeth Savage nabbed the bouncer to finalize the opening stanza.
• Adams triggered the running clock 51 seconds into the second quarter, dodging left before cutting back right and moving the top-right corner from the edge of the crease.
• A forced miscue by Lucy Bishop sparked a fastbreak with 11:26 to go in the half. Maeve Lee capitalized with a one-on-one deposit into the back panel to make the lead 11-0.
• Hanson looked for the 12th tally with 6:43 played in the session, but Wexler snagged the high free-position attempt for the save. Not quite three minutes later, she denied Ackerman from the eight-meter arc.
• The visitors broke through with 2:45 left when Kole aided a Marissa Lucca goal to trim the lead to 10. TCNJ halted the running clock with 21 seconds to go before halftime on another Kole to Lucca connection (11-2).
• Five consecutive markers awaited the Panthers in the third frame. Lach opened the stretch with a quick-stick strike from the left post, while Hamilton dunked a feed from Adams two minutes later. Sophia Lee joined the scoring column at the 9:24 mark on a free-position finish into the left panel, while Colin and Maeve Lee each added a goal over the ensuing minutes to arrange a 16-2 margin with 10:14 played.
• Kole logged the final tally of the stanza on a free-position dart into the top-right corner for a 16-3 line after 45 minutes.
• Sophia Lee headlined a four-goal final quarter for Middlebury, logging a player-down free-position strike before an unassisted tally to close the contest. Maddie Ocampo answered an Ashly Herlihy marker from the eight-meter arc with a free-position score of her own to arrange the 19-4 decision.

NOTES

• Lach's first tally marked the 100th goal of her Panther career.
• Emma McCann logged a career-best four caused turnovers. 
• Sunday's matchup marked the 19th meeting between the programs and the 13th in the NCAA bracket. Middlebury owns a slim 11-8 edge in the all-time series and has won three of the last four postseason clashes.

The Panthers advance to the NCAA Semifinal round to battle the winner of #4 Tufts and #20 Williams on Friday at 12:00 p.m. from Judson Stadium in Rochester, New York.