MIDDLEBURY — The No. 4 seed Middlebury Union girls’ lacrosse team saw a comeback from an 11-4 deficit late in the second quarter fall just short in a Division I semifinal on June 5, when No. 5. Rice held on for a 13-11 victory.

The Tigers took a 3-1 lead in the first five minutes, but the Green Knights controlled the draws and the ground ball battles and checked aggressively in surging on a 10-1 run over the next 15:33 of action to take that 11-4 lead with 2:27 to go in the first half.

Ultimately that stretch proved decisive, even though the Tigers regained their mojo by scoring the final two goals of the first half, both coming after finally winning ground balls. One goal came from sophomore middie Isabel Quinn after sophomore teammate Alice Livesauy won one ground ball, and the other came from junior middie Lia Calzini with nine seconds to go in the half after goalie Ida Blackwell scooped a loose ball and started the Tigers off in the other direction.

MUHS JUNIOR MIDDIE Lia Calzini bolts through a knot of Rice players during the teams’ June 5 Division I quarterfinal in Middlebury. Calzini led the Tigers with three goals.
Independent photo/Steve James

But Co-Coach Jeff Weaber, who will turn over the reins next season to Co-Coach Caroline Wood, said despite the better overall play and defense that carried over to the second half, the team’s slow start was too much to overcome. He said he thought early on Rice played with more assertion, and that also at first his team was feeling nerves.

“Sometimes the ball rolls in a different direction than you want it to. We definitely needed to up our draw game,” Weaber said. “There was a lot of pressure on the girls, more than they felt all season, being at home and having the whole town here to watch, and I think that’s probably part of it.”

MUHS SOPHOMORE GOALIE Ida Blackwell has this save on Rice’s Payton Borick lined up during the teams’ June 5 Division I quarterfinal in Middlebury.
Independent photo/Steve James

That said, the Tigers righted the ship and almost pulled off the comeback, an effort that capped a successful season with a winning record that included big victories over top teams.

“We definitely took a step forward, and it was not because of skill on the team, it was how the team came together and supported each other,” Weaber said. “And that’s the kind of culture I was hoping to be able to leave the program with, and we’re in good hands now (with Wood) … Caroline was awesome. She really stepped in and led the girls.”

Weaber also acknowledged the team did have plenty of talent.

“And there’s more coming,” he said. “There’s a good lacrosse mentality in Middlebury, and we’ll keep building.”

Unfortunately, this season ended a little earlier than all in and around the program had hoped.

MUHS SOPHOMORE ATTACKER Alice Livesay fires a shot at goal against Rice during the teams’ June 5 Division I quarterfinal in Middlebury. Livesay scored twice and picked up a couple key groundballs.
Independent photo/Steve James

Rice struck first 2:45 into the game on the first of three Payton Borick goals, which prophetically came after the Green Knights won the first draw and first three ground ball duels.

Still, the Tigers then seemingly took charge with three goals in the next 2:30. Junior Quinn Doria converted a free position after a strong run, and sophomore Isabel Quinn and senior Ada Weaber netted unassisted scores. Weaber’s came after junior Kenyon Connors stole the ball.

But Rice outscored the Tigers by 4-1 over the rest of the period, with two goals from Bayleigh Clark and one apiece from Borick and Kayden O’Connell. Quinn netted a free position in the final minute to make it 5-4, and Tiger sophomore goalie shortly afterward denied O’Connell to keep it a one-goal game headed into the second quarter.

MUHS JUNIOR MIDFIELDER Quinn Doria goes airborne to score this first-quarter goal against Rice during the teams’ June 5 Division I quarterfinal in Middlebury.
Independent photo/Steve James

But the Tigers did not gain momentum from those two plays. The Green Knights rattled off six unanswered goals in the second period to take their 11-4 lead 2:27 before the half. Clark scored two of them to finish with four goals, and Borick completed her hat trick in the period. In all, that completed Rice’s 10-1.

The Tigers went into the break with a bit of traction thanks to the two late second-period goals from Quinn and Calzini, however, and Calzini kept it rolling with the first two goals of the second half to make it 11-8 at 6:52 of the third. The second was a coast-to-coast burst in which Calzini left most of the Rice team in her wake before whipping the ball home.

The Tigers meanwhile held the Green Knights in check, but were also not threatening consistently, in part because Weaber, the captain and leading scorer, was hurt with four minutes to go and sat out most of the rest of the game. Each team added one more goal in the period, Harper Murray for Rice with 2:12 to go, and Livesay from senior Sara Kent at 1:06 for the Tigers, and it was 13-9 with a quarter to go.

Two nice plays in the first 3:19 made it 13-11. Connors cashed in Quinn’s feed from the left side, and Livesay converted a behind-the-net feed from Kent at 8:41.

MUHS SENIOR MIDFIELDER Ada Weaber defends Rice middie Sadie Levinson during the teams’ June 5 Division I quarterfinal in Middlebury.
Independent photo/Steve James

At 5:44 a Rice player drew a two-minute penalty for an illegal check. But the Tigers soon lost the ball, and Rice went into stalling mode, with the speedy O’Connell especially effective in protecting the ball. Rice took one shot, and Blackwell made a strong kick save on Borick, and the ball bounced back to Rice.

The Tigers finally got the ball back with about three minutes left, but two free position bids and another shot all sailed wide, and eventually time ran out on the comeback bid and the season. Blackwell finished with eight saves, and Rice goalie Tayton Barrett made six.

As well as Weaber and Kent, the quarterfinal was the last as a Tiger lacrosse player for attacker Aven Frankovic and defenders Addison Schnoor, Lila Cook Yoder, Georgie Kiel and Juliette Hunsdorfer.