HARTFORD, Conn. — The Middlebury College men’s lacrosse team won a pair of recent games to stretch its winning streak to five games, all on the road, and improve to 8-5 overall and 4-4 in NESCAC play.
The Panthers will wrap up their regular season with two home games. On Saturday at 1 p.m. Tufts (11-1, 7-1 NESCAC), ranked No. 6 in NCAA Division III, visits, and on Wednesday at 5 p.m. Middlebury will entertain Williams (7-6, 5-3 NESCAC).
On this past Saturday the Panthers got past host Trinity, 13-12, relying on a save from goalie Charles Midgley in the final seconds to hold on for the NESCAC victory. The Bantams dropped to 4-7, 1-6 NESCAC.
The Panthers took a 4-3 lead after the first quarter, and then rattled off the first four goals of the second period, including man-up scores from Henry Riehl and A.J. Kucinski, on the way to an 8-5 lead at the break.
Kucinski scored at 10:08 of the third to make it 9-5, but three Bantam goals cut the Panther lead to one. Scores from Michael McCormack, who caught a rebound and shot in one motion, and Jack Gould, pushed the lead to 11-8 with a quarter to go.
In the fourth, the Panthers took a 12-8 lead when Riehl scored with 13:29 left. The Bantams then scored three goals over the next four minutes, including two from Teddy Myers, to make it 12-11. Riehl responded with his third goal of the game at 5:01 to give the Panthers a two-goal edge.
Myers drew Trinity to within 13-12 with 48 seconds left. Trinity won the faceoff, but Midgley denied Drew Kozub with time winding down and sent the ball downfield to secure the Panther win.
McCormack, Riehl and Kucinski each scored three times and had one assist, and Zeke Emerson caused a game-high three turnovers for Middlebury. Midgley finished with 12 saves.
Myers led the Bantams with a hat trick, while Andrew Collins scored twice. Scott Morgan won 14 of 21 faceoffs, and Trinity goalie Woody Hamilton made 13 saves.
On Tuesday the Panthers scored four straight goals in the final quarter for an 11-9 victory at Endicott (4-10).
After a back-and-forth first half the host Gulls led, 5-4. Middlebury got goals from McCormack and Chase Goree in the first five minutes of the second half to take the lead, but two goals by A.J. MacDonald helped Endicott retake the lead after three periods, 8-7.
The Panthers, who dominated the game statistically, then went on their decisive run, with two goals from Goree and two from Riehl to lead by 11-8 with 6:19 remaining. Gull Jack Sutherland scored his third goal of the game eight seconds later, but Endicott came no closer.
Goree recorded a season-high four goals, while McCormack had a hat trick with an assist. Riehl scored twice, extending his goal-scoring streak to 20 games, while Kucinski had a goal and four assists. Jake Madnick won 16 of 22 faceoffs and collected nine ground balls. Midgley made eight saves. Gull goalie Patrick Dean made 16 saves. Middlebury held decisive edges in shots (43-22) and ground balls (36-19).