MIDDLEBURY — The Middlebury College women’s hockey team defeated visiting Trinity, 4-1, on Saturday in a NESCAC quarterfinal. The 20-2-3 Panthers — 14-1-1 NESCAC and ranked No. 2 in NCAA Division III — will host the league’s final four this weekend.
This Saturday at 1 p.m. the Panthers will take on No. 4 seed Hamilton (16-8-1, 9-6-1 NESCAC), and at 4 p.m. No. 2 Colby (15-5-5, 9-3-4) and No. 3 Amherst (15-5-5, 8-4-4) square off. The winners will meet for the title and the league’s automatic berth to the NCAA tournament at 2 p.m. on Sunday. Tickets for the weekend games are $6 for adults and $3 for students and senior citizens.
Hamilton is the only NESCAC team to have defeated Middlebury this season: The teams split two games at Hamilton, the Continentals winning the first, 2-0, and Middlebury the second, 3-0. Amherst tied the Panthers in Kenyon early this season, 1-1, but Middlebury won the second meeting in the two-game set, 2-0. The Panthers swept Colby at home, 2-0 and 3-0.
Against Trinity (8-13-4) this past Saturday the Panthers scored twice in the opening period. At 11:49 Elise Park scored her first career goal, a shot from the point that found the net through traffic. Middlebury added on a five-on-three power-play goal in the final seconds, when Madie Leidt picked a corner. 
The Bantams cut the margin on Martha Peppes’s power-play rebound goal with 7:59 remaining in the second period.
Middlebury answered less than four minutes later, when Katie Hargrave dove into the crease to jam home a Jenna Letterie rebound. Leidt added an empty-netter with five seconds left in the game, her team-high 18th goal.
Panther senior goalie Lin Han stopped 20 shots, while Trinity’s Kai-Lilly Karpman made 23 saves.