MIDDLEBURY, Vt. – A season in which Endicott captured their first NCAA tournament win in women's lacrosse program history ended on Saturday afternoon on Kohn Field as #3 Middlebury defeated the Gulls 13-4 to advance to the Regional Finals of the NCAA Division III tournament.
The Gulls end the season with a record of 13-8, while Middlebury improves to 17-2 and improved on their NCAA record, which now stands at 44-13.
Endicott trailed 7-1 but strung together three straight goals to trail by just three going into halftime. That was as close as they would get, however, as the Panthers shut the Gulls out after the break and scored all six goals of the second half.
Senior Holly Davis (Guilford, Conn.) scored twice for Endicott and Kelly Tierney (South Hadley, Mass.) added a goal and an assist) in their final games in the Blue and Green.
Endicott did a good job of holding off the Middlebury offensive attack in the first half, thanks to the deft play in net by goalie Rachel Socolow (Westford, Mass.). The junior net-minder made several huge saves and finished the first half with 10 of her 17 stops.
Ellen Halle (Upperco, Md.) led the Panthers with a hat trick, and opened the game for Middlebury with a goal at 25:17 after picking up a rebound for the in-close tally. The Panthers moved to 2-0 on the visitors after a turnover by the Gulls as Chrissy Ritter (Middlebury, Vt.) found Alice Pfeffer (Chevy Chase, Md.) at 22:51. Just over a minute later, Endicott got on the board on a free-possession shot by Davis, of which Endicott was 2-2.
Leading 2-1, Middlebury went on a five-goal run, as five different Panthers scored, capped by Katie Ritter's (Middlebury, Vt.) tally at 5:11.
Endicott began their three-goal spurt when Tierney found junior Callie Murphy (Woburn, Mass.) at 3:39, then netted her own goal less than two minutes later on a free-position shot. Thirteen seconds later, Davis had grabbed the draw, burst down the field and beat Panthers junior goalie Alyssa Palomba (Shrewsbury, Mass.), who gave up goals on the only four Endicott shots that she faced in the game.
Davis' two goals and a team-best three draw controls led Endicott, while Tierney finished with a goal and an assist. Gabrielle Boyle (Hingham, Mass.) paced the Gulls with a game-high four groundballs and Rachel Campos (Shrewsbury, Mass.) won two draw controls.
Kelsey Barnes (Mendham, N.J.) and Stacia Geno (White River Junction, Vt.) each forced a pair of Endicott's seven caused turnovers.
For Middlebury, Michaela Colbert (Topsfield, Mass.) and Heather Marrison (Brewster, N.Y.) shared the team lead with three groundballs, while Catherine Folwer's (Grosse Pointe, Mich.) three draw controls were a team-high.
