34th Time's The Charm: Union Beats Middlebury
from press releases
SCHENECTADY, N.Y. - For the first time in the
long and storied history of matchups between Union College and
Middlebury College in women's lacrosse, the Dutchwomen defeated the
Panthers Thursday. No. 15 Union downed No. 8 Middlebury, 12-8, as
Middlebury had won all 33 previous meetings in the series that
began on April 30, 1976. Kristin Joyce (Longmeadow, MA) scored five
goals and Jill LaForest (Acton, MA) scored four to lead the
Dutchwomen, now 6-2. Middlebury fell to 5-3.
Union goaltender Cat Ruggiero (Huntington, NY) made 13 saves,
including eight in the first half, which ended in a 4-4 deadlock.
Middlebury slightly outshot Union, 26-25. Panther goaltender Blair
Bowie (Washington, DC) made seven saves for the guests.
Union also got two goals from Chelsea Charette (South Hadley, MA)
and a single score from Allie Cuozzo (Norfolk, MA). Middlebury was
led by Dana Heritage (Cheshire, CT), who scored three goals while
the Panthers had single tallies from Chase Delano (Greenwich, CT),
Sally Ryan (Mountain Lakes, NJ), Stephanie Gill (Hingham, MA),
Elizabeth Garry (Mamaroneck, NY) and Kate Barton (Cape Elizabeth,
ME). The Dutchwomen had 26 ground balls to the Panthers' 21, and
Middlebury converted 13 of 15 clears while Union converted 12 of
15.
The Dutchwomen opened the scoring with Joyce's 23rd just 1:01 into
the game, and Ryan tallied at 27:14 to tie it. Union scored the
next two but the Panthers tied it at 3-3 with 8:21 left. Both teams
traded goals to end the half. Union stormed out to an 8-4 lead with
the first four goals of the second stanza. Joyce and LaForest
scored at 27:37 and 27:02, and Charette (her 16th) and Joyce again
provided the four goal advantage with 17:48 remaining. But Heritage
scored the next two at 16:30 and 14:44 to pull the Panthers to
within two.
At 11:54, Joyce took a quick feed in front from Charette to make
it 9-6, but Garry's 16th at 34 seconds later once again made it a
two goal contest. LaForest took a high shot to the top corner at
9:23 to regain the three goal lead, only to be followed by Delano's
20th of the year at 8:46. But the Dutchwomen got insurance on
Cuozzo's 13th at 6:15 and iced it with the 11th of the year from
LaForest with 3:08 remaining.
