For Release: March 19, 2007

WOMEN’S HOCKEY FALLS IN NCAA TITLE GAME

The Middlebury College women’s hockey team saw its quest for a fourth straight NCAA title come to an end with a 2-1 loss to Plattsburgh at the Stafford Arena in Plattsburgh, New York on Saturday. The Panthers, in a rematch of the 2006 title game, held the Cardinals to their lowest goal output of the season, but the top-ranked and undefeated Cardinals (27-0-2) were just too strong in net en route to their first ever NCAA championship. This was the third meeting of these teams as Plattsburgh won a 5-4 overtime game at Middlebury in February and won 4-2 in Plattsburgh back in November. The NCAA runner-up Panthers finish their season 23-4-2.

Plattsburgh State struck first when Lindsay Brown scored at the 19:00 mark to take a 1-0 lead. In all three games this season, the Cardinals scored the first goal of the game. Plattsburgh State held a 10-6 shot advantage and maintained their 1-0 lead into the first intermission.

In the second period the Cardinals expanded their lead to 2-0 when Shay Bywater scored from the doorstep off a nice centering feed by Danielle Blanchard at the 6:38 mark. Middlebury could not exploit a two-skater advantage midway through the period. Cardinal goaltender Breanne Doyle made some great saves during the 1:31 span of the five-on-three power play. But another penalty on Plattsburgh State moments after getting back to full-strength gave the Panthers another power play opportunity. Middlebury would capitalize at the 15:58 mark when senior Shannon Sylvester (Randolph, N.J.) redirected a shot from the point by junior Karen Levin (Morton Grove, Ill.) to cut the Cardinals’ lead to 2-1. The Panthers continued to pressure Plattsburgh in the waning minutes of the period, but Doyle made several spectacular stops to deny Middlebury the equalizer. Although trailing 2-1, the Panthers out-shot the Cardinals 14-7 in the period and had a 20-17 shot advantage after two periods.

The Cardinals, who owned a 20-0-1 record when leading after two periods during the season, relied on their defense to keep Middlebury from tying the game in the third. The Plattsburgh defense did a great job clamping down on the Panther offensive attack. In the final minutes of the game Middlebury took an interference penalty that forced the Panthers to try and attack short-handed. Once back to full-strength the Panthers pulled their goalie for the final 1:11. Middlebury could not score as the game ended 2-1 in favor of Plattsburgh.

Middlebury’s first-year netminder Lani Wright (Reading, Mass.) made 22 saves, while her counterpart from Plattsburgh, Breanne Doyle made 28 stops.

Middlebury advanced to the championship game with a 5-1 win over the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point on Friday afternoon. The three-time defending NCAA champion Panthers never trailed in the game. Levin got Middlebury on the board at the 13:12 mark of the opening period on a power play goal. The first period ended with UW-Stevens Point holding an 11-8 advantage in shots, but the Panthers held a 1-0 lead.

The second period saw the Panthers strike quickly to go up 2-0 over the Pointers as senior Ellen Sargent (St. Albans, Vt.) scored just 1:11 into the frame. Ten penalties were called after the Sargent goal, six on UW-Stevens Point and four on Middlebury. Neither team could muster a goal with the extra skater during the period.

The Panthers scored another early goal in the third period. This time sophomore Molly Vitt (Kenilworth, Ill.) and Sargent switched scoring roles as Vitt scored at the 1:25 mark and Sargent assisted to make the score 3-0 in favor of Middlebury. Shortly after the goal, the Panthers were on a power play as senior Abby Kurtz-Phelan (Denver, Colo.) scored to give Middlebury a commanding 4-0 lead.

The Pointers got their only goal of the game as Katy Lankey spoiled Wright's shutout bid with a shorthanded goal midway through the third period cutting the Panther lead to 4-1. UW-Stevens Point pulled their goaltender for an extra attacker late in the game, but Middlebury stole the puck and scored just eight seconds later as Sylvester scored an empty net goal with 55 seconds left in the game off an assist from Kurtz-Phelan to end the scoring 5-1.

Wright ended up with 26 saves in the Middlebury net, while Amy Statz had 25 saves for the Pointers. Sargent and senior Shannon Tarrant (Brookfield, Conn.) were named to the All-Tournament team.
• Women’s hockey final record: 23-4-2

MEN’S HOCKEY DROPS NCAA TITLE GAME IN OT

The Panther men’s hockey team Middlebury saw its hopes of a fourth straight NCAA Championship come to an end as they fell to Oswego 4-3 in overtime. The loss is the first in a title game for the Panthers, who end their season at 20-8-2. Garren Reisweber won the title for the Lakers as he broke in down the right wing, skated across the crease and tucked a shot into the left side of the net. Middlebury out shot Oswego 50-33 on the night, seeing 47 of those shots stopped by Oswego netminder Ryan Scott.

The game was back and fourth early, with Middlebury holding an edge offensively. The Panthers generated some quality scoring chances, including four on a power play at 8:58, but were unable to score on Scott. Middlebury had another power play chance late in the period, but were unable to muster up any quality scoring chances. Oswego went on its first power play of the game with 58 seconds remaining in the period, but did not get any shots on goal. The Panthers ended the period with a 19-6 shots advantage.

Oswego continued the second period on its power play, with junior Ross Cherry (Basking Ridge, N.J.) making a big save on Peter Magagna just moments into the period. Reisweber gathered the rebound off the back boards and then scored from a tough angle as his shot went in off the pads of Cherry. The goal was the first allowed in an NCAA Championship game by Middlebury in a span of 326:30 minutes (dating back to 2-1 win in ’98 final, four shutout wins since).

Middlebury tied the game at 8:42 as sophomore Jamie McKenna (Lake Placid, N.Y.) held the puck down the right win, paused and then snapped a shot into the top left corner of the net. Junior Scott Bartlett (Pittsford, N.Y.) had a chance to give the Panthers a 2-1 lead moments later, but his shot from the slot was stopped by the pads of Scott.

The Panthers would take a 2-1 lead a short time later at 9:54, as they went on a five-on-three power play. Junior Tom Maldonado (Bronx, N.Y.) found senior John Sales (Downington, Pa.) for the one-timer on the left wing, as Sales ripped a shot into the back of the net. The Lakers tied the game with 3:45 remaining in the period as Trevor Gilligan’s shot from the left wing hit the pads of Cherry, before falling to the ice and trickling over the goal line. Middlebury killed off an Oswego power play at 17:53, leaving the game in a 2-2 tie after two periods of play.

Cherry denied a pair of Laker attempts early in the third period, stopping Tyler Lyon on a breakaway at the 3:30 mark. Oswego took a 3-2 lead 5:33 into the period when Magagna scored on the power play down low on the right side. Magagna received the puck at the bottom of the face-off circle from Brendan McLaughlin, before snapping a shot into the net off the cross bar. Cherry kept it a 3-2 game at 7:30 as he sprawled across the goal crease to deny Mark Lozzi. The Panthers had a power play fail at the 12:41 mark, with a couple of quality shots on goal. Middlebury was able to tie the game with 2:25 remaining as first-year player John Sullivan (Delmar, N.Y.) scored from the slot after a flurry in front of the Oswego net.

Both teams had some quality chances through the first 10 minutes of overtime with the goaltenders remaining steady. Cherry ended the game with 29 saves for the Panthers, while Scott made 47 for the Lakers.

Middlebury advanced to the title game after a 3-2 win over Manhattanville in a semifinal contest played in Superior, Wisconsin. Manhattanville looked strong early, with several good scoring opportunities. Just two minutes in, Justin Rohr was stopped from point-blank range by Middlebury sophomore Doug Raeder ((Needham, Mass.). Junior Mickey Gilchrist (Ottawa, Ont.) snapped a hard shot on goal on a power play at 7:00, but he was denied by Manhattanville netminder Andrew Gallant, the national player of the year. The Valiants had another chance at the 8:20 mark, but Dillon Henningson’s shot was stopped by Raeder before Bartlett cleared the puck off the goal line. Raeder made two more solid saves during the Valiant’s power play, keeping the game scoreless. Manhattanville held an 11-8 shots advantage after one period.

The Panthers took a 1-0 lead just 26 seconds into the second period as Gilchrist scored his second short-handed goal of the season. Gilchrist intercepted a pass in the slot then put a pair of deke moves on Gallant before tucking a shot into the left side of the net.

Manhattanville tied the game with a short-handed tally of its own at 11:09. Rohr broke out in a two-on-one situation, keeping the puck down the left wing and snapping a shot to the top right corner of the net over the shoulder of Raeder.

Raeder kept it a 1-1 contest as he denied Rohr on a wrap-around at the 15-minute mark, before stuffing Arlen Marshall just a minute later. Rohr struck again with another shortie, this time at 17:40 to give the Valiants a 2-1 lead. A shot rebounded off the back boards and into the crease area, where Rohr was able to dive and poke a shot into the top corner of the net. Gilchrist had a great chance to tie the game moments later, but his shot was denied as he drove towards the goal from the right side.

The Panthers tied the game with 20 seconds left in the period as McKenna and junior Justin Gaines (Mequon, Wis.) worked a great give-and-go, with McKenna finishing from the slot. Middlebury held a 15-14 edge in shots in an up and down period.

Middlebury scored the go-ahead goal just 1:29 into the third period, taking a 3-2 lead. Senior Darwin Hunt’s (Winnetka, Ill.) shot was saved, two Panthers then fanned on the puck, before senior Evgeny Saidachev (Gig Harbor, Wash.) finished from the slot. The Panthers had some more quality chances on a power play at 6:14, but Gallant was equal to the task.

Manhattanville ended the game with a flurry as they had a power play with their netminder pulled for a six-on-four situation for the game’s final 59 seconds. The Valiants had a couple of chances during the power play but Raeder came up big to preserve the win.

Raeder ended the game with a career-high 34 saves, while Gallant made 31 stops for Manhattanville.
• Men’s hockey final record: 20-8-3

MEN’S SWIMMING COMPETES AT NCAA’S

The Middlebury College men’s swimming and diving team finished 14^th overall out of 52 teams competing at the 2007 NCAA Championships last week. Senior Robert Collier (Catonsville, Md.) was the top performer, earning All-American status in both the 100 and 200 fly. Collier placed sixth in the 200 with a time of 1:51.08, while coming in eighth in the 100 in 50.08.

One Middlebury relay team advanced to the finals, as Collier, sophomore Kevin O’Rourke (Chagrin Falls, Ohio), senior Tim Lux (Sandy Hook, Conn.) and first-year swimmer Schuyler Beeman (Guilford, Conn.) finished 12^th with a time of 6:55.13 in the 800 free.

First-year diver Brooks Farrar (Medfield., Mass.) also turned in a pair of solid performances in diving. He finished ninth with 421.10 points in the 3M competition, while earning 396.35 points to place 14^th in the 1M event.
• end of season

MEN’S LACROSSE EDGES CONNECTICUT COLLEGE

The Panther men’s lacrosse team began its defense of their NESCAC title with a 10-9 victory over Conn. College at Kohn Field. The game was postponed one day due to inclement weather. Thanks in large part to Middlebury’s ground crew and support staff, who worked diligently to clear the field right up to the opening face-off, the game started on time.

Conn. College opened the scoring in the first quarter with a man-up goal by Kevin Nally at the 12:45 mark. The Panthers responded with a goal just over a minute later when junior Jim Cabrera’s (Old Greenwich, Conn.) shot pinged in off the near pipe to make it a 1-1 game with 11:22 left in the first. The Camels’ Sean Driscoll was involved with the next three goals as he scored one and assisted on two others. The first two goals gave Conn. College a 3-1 lead after the first quarter.

The third goal opened the scoring in the second quarter as Matt Flanagan netted his first of his three goals on the day off an assist from Driscoll to build a 4-1 advantage with 12:04 remaining. The Panthers would answer that run with the next five goals of the quarter. Cabrera scored two goals and assisted on another to give Middlebury a 6-4 lead at halftime.

Middlebury increased their lead to 7-4 with 13:55 left in the third quarter when sophomore Tom Petty’s (Newburyport, Mass.) wrap-around shot from the left side got past Camel goalie Mark Moran. After nearly a 15-minute scoreless drought, the Camels fired back with a score at the 12:13 mark, cutting the Middlebury lead to 7-5. Two more goals by Conn. College tied the game at seven apiece with 4:10 left in the third. The teams would trade goals in the final minutes of the third to set up an exciting fourth quarter.

At the 7:14 mark in the fourth, the tie was broken by Middlebury when Petty netted the go-ahead goal. Just over a minute later the Panthers would make the score 10-8 as face-off specialist Peter Mellen (Cherry Hill, N.J.) put a deke move on the Camels’ defense and slid a shot in from 15 yards out. Conn. College would cut the lead to 10-9 with 2:25 left when Steve Dachille scored from point blank range off a spectacular feed from Flanagan. Middlebury held on to the ball after the face-off for nearly two minutes deep in Camel territory. With under a minute to play, Conn. College took control of the ball. Middlebury maintained fierce defensive pressure on Conn. College as the Camels positioned for the final, game-tying shot. With just three seconds left in the game Conn. College’s Craig Audin took a low shot from 15 yards out that Panther senior goalie Alex Palmisano (Southport, Conn.) kick-saved to preserve the Middlebury victory 10-9.

Cabrera and Petty led Middlebury with three goals and an assist each. Palmisano made 11 saves in goal for the Panthers, while Moran made 17 stops for the Camels in defeat.
• Men’s lacrosse record: 2-0
• Up next: 3/21 vs. Springfield – 4:00, 3/24 vs. Bowdoin – 1:00

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