No. 12 Union Fends Off No. 11 Middlebury
from press release
MIDDLEBURY, Vt. – Union led 10-6 and held off a late
Middlebury rally, on its way to an 11-10 road win on Middlebury
College's Kohn Field. The 11th ranked Panthers fall to 5-4 on the
season, while the 12th ranked Dutchwomen improve to 6-4. Middlebury
owned a 33-0 lead in the series before Union earned wins in each of
the last two seasons.
Trailing 2-0, Middlebury's Chase Delano scored a pair to tie the
game with 8:34 left in the first half. Union answered with two
goals of its own, including a free position tally from Kristin
Joyce late in the half to take a 4-2 lead into the
intermission.
Middlebury tied the game at 4-4, before Union scored six of the
next eight goals to take a 10-6 lead with 12:06 remaining. Joyce
scored twice during the first three-goal run, with Chelsea Charette
earning a pair of assists. Following a pair of Panther tallies,
Joyce again scored twice with two helpers to Melissa Hine, making
it a 10-6 game.
Margaret Souther put Middlebury back on track at 10:30, before
Ellen Halle cut quickly to the goal and scored to make it a 10-8
game with 8:54 remaining. Heather Marrison converted a nice feed
from Sally Ryan with 5:44 left cutting the lead to 10-9.
Middlebury won the ensuing draw control, but turned the ball over
as Joyce scored her seventh of the game to put Union up 11-9 with
3:07 remaining.
Following, Union won the draw control and turned it over, as Chase
Delano quickly redirected a pass from Ryan to make it a one-goal
game with 1:10 left to play.
Middlebury won the draw control with a chance to tie the game,
but Lizzy Moran stripped a Panther cutting to the goal and
recovered the ground ball, as Union ran out the clock.
Joyce led all scorers with seven, giving her 44 goals in 10 games
this season. Jill LaForest added three goals for Union, as Kat
Egizi picked up five ground balls and caused four turnovers. Delano
paced the Panthers with four goals, while Souther and Halle each
scored twice.
Lily Nguyen made six saves for Middlebury, as did Cat Ruggiero for
Union. The statistics were relatively even, with Union holding a
15-10 edge in ground balls and Middlebury earning 13 of 22 draw
controls.
