SALISBURY, Md. — In a Monday meeting of two women’s lacrosse teams ranked in the top five in NCAA Division III, Middlebury rode a big second half past host Salisbury to win, 11-6. No. 4 Salisbury dropped to 7-2 as the Sea Gulls saw their 20-game home winning streak end. The No. 5 Panthers improved to 5-1 heading into a Wednesday date at No. 8 York played after the deadline for this edition. Middlebury will host Amherst at 2 p.m. on Saturday.
Middlebury and Salisbury on Monday traded goals in the first half, which ended with Middlebury on top, 6-5, after Emma McDonagh’s tie-breaking goal at 5:04 and a key save from goalie Kate Furber 11 seconds before the break.
The Panthers then opened the second half with four straight goals, including three in the first 10 minutes. Emily Barnard scored twice, McDonagh netted her second at 9:13, and another Barnard goal made it 10-5.
A Courtney Fegan strike at 13:54 cut the Panther lead to four, but Barnard added another goal at 11:29 to close out the scoring. One game after Bowdoin scored 18 times in a Panther win, the Middlebury defense Panther defense didn’t allow a shot in the final 10 minutes, limited Salisbury to a season-low six goals, and yielded one score over the final 38:17.
Furber made two saves in the opening half to earn the win, while Julia Keith made one stop in the final 30 minutes. Alex White led the defense by scooping four ground balls and causing three turnovers, while Addy Mitchell caused three turnovers and collected three ground balls. Erin Nicholas chipped in with six draw controls and four ground balls. Barnard recorded her second five-goal game of the season, while McDonagh and Jane Earley each scored twice.
Goalie Skye Graham made eight saves for Salisbury in 50 minutes of action, and Fegan paced the Sea Gull attack with three goals.
Middlebury earned advantages of 26-15 in shots and 26-20 in ground balls and forced 26 turnovers.