BRATTLEBORO — The No. 3 Middlebury Union High School girls’ lacrosse team defeated host No. 2 Brattleboro, 7-6, in a Wednesday Division I semifinal and will play top-seeded Champlain Valley for the title on Friday.
The final will be played at the University of Vermont’s Virtue Field at 5 p.m. The 13-3 Tigers will be trying to repeat as champions and win the program’s 10th title, but only its second since 2008.
To do so they must defeat a 16-2 Redhawk team that knocked off No. 5 South Burlington on Wednesday, 13-7, and twice got the best of the Tigers this spring, 12-11 in Hinesburg and 15-10 on Fucile Field.
On Wednesday the Tiger defense and goalie Raven Payne (11 saves) held Brattleboro to a season-low scoring total. The 14-4 Colonels had scored at least 11 goals in all of their regular-season games before requiring overtime to get past Rutland, 8-7, in the quarterfinal round.  
The Tigers pitched a first-half shutout, led by 3-0 at the break, and held off a Brattleboro rally in the second half as Isabel Rosenberg (four goals, five draw controls) and Satchel McLaughlin (three goals) supplied the offense.