AMHERST, Mass. — The Middlebury College men’s lacrosse team split two games last week, including a win over a highly ranked NESCAC foe.
The Panthers carried a 7-2 record, 4-1 in league play, into a Wednesday home game vs. NESCAC opponent Hamilton. They will next host another league game, Colby at 1 p.m. on Saturday.
This past Saturday, Middlebury handed Amherst (8-1, 3-1) its first loss of the season, 17-11. The Jeffs entered that contest ranked No. 5 in NCAA Division III, while the Panthers were 13th.
Middlebury scored a season-high 17 goals as Jon Broome and Henry Riehl paced the team with four goals each, and Broome added a game-high four assists.
After a 4-4 first quarter, the Panthers took the lead for good with the first three scores of the second period on the way to an 8-5 halftime advantage.
Up by 10-7 in the third, the Panthers scored four straight to pull ahead by seven and maintained at least a five-goal cushion the rest of the way.
Middlebury held a 53-39 advantage in shots and a 17-16 edge in faceoffs. Jack Rautiola, John Jackson and Sean Carroll scored two goals apiece, with Rautiola adding an assist.
Jackson led all players with 12 groundballs. Panther goalie Will Ernst stopped 14 shots, while Cody Tranbarger stopped 13 shots for the Jeffs.
On March 25, undefeated No. 2 Rochester Institute of Technology topped the Panthers, 21-11, at Johns Hopkins University.
Shots ran 55-46 in favor of RIT, which also held a 42-33 ground ball edge.
Joey Zelkowitz led Middlebury with three goals, while Tim Giarrusso added a pair of goals. Broome had a goal and three assists, while Jackson won 21 of 35 face-offs and recorded a game-high 10 groundballs. Ernst made 14 saves.
RIT led 4-1 after the first quarter, and 11-4 at the half, and then withstood a Panther surge that saw the lead shrink to 12-9 in the third period.