Sportsbriefs lacrosse, MiddCheer success

Author: David Infante

Men's lacrosse team advances to the semifinals to play Tufts

Middlebury Men's Lacrosse may have gone 1-1 on the road this past weekend, but the Panthers have entered the postseason with gusto.

The team dropped a 7-6 overtime thriller to Tufts on Saturday, despite Mike Stone's hat trick as the Tufts Jumbos claimed their first-ever NESCAC regular season title. Yet the weekend had just begun for the Panthers.

The following day Middlebury took to the field against Trinity, to whom the squad had lost only two weeks earlier, and proceeded to put on a clinic, defeating the ill-fated Bantams 16-4. Despite allowing Trinity the first goal, Middlebury's Alex Palmisano '07 was strong in net and made 19 saves as teammates piled on eight unanswered tallies through 30 minutes of play. Skyler Hopkins '09 notched five goals and one assist, followed by Nick Bastis '07 with two goals and an assist and Rory Sanborn '08 with two goals and two assists.

The Panthers will return to Tufts next weekend for revenge in the semi-final round of the NESCAC tournament, playing at noon this coming Saturday.



Women's lacrosse finishes a perfect NESCAC regular season

This past Saturday the women's lacrosse team continued the trend of unbridled NESCAC domination that they have been building on all season .

The 15-7 home win over Tufts marks both the 39th consecutive home win and the completion of the 8th consecutive season in which the Panthers have gone undefeated against NESCAC opponents. After tallying the first eight goals of the match, Middlebury continued to pour it on, securing a dominant 12-1 lead over the visiting Tufts squad at the break. Contributions from Kim Walker '07(four goals), Mimi Schatz '08 (three goals), Claire Edelen '08 (two goals, six assists), and Dana Heritage '10 (two goals) went a long way towards the eventual 15-7 decision.

Middlebury enters the NESCAC tournament with an in-conference winning streak of 68 games, and will play in the semi-final round on May 5.



Shortstop Noah Walker '07 earns NESCAC Player of Week

Middlebury Baseball's Noah Walker '07 earned NESCAC Player of the Week for his excellence in the batter's box against a slew of opponents in the team's charge last week for a 5-0 run.

The senior Walker batted at a .625 clip over a span of five games against St. Michael's, Plattsburgh and Hamilton, and his season-long batting average of .449 is good enough to lead the NESCAC. In this past week's games, Walker sported an on-base percentage of .739 and managed to score eight runs in total while also knocking in six RBIs. Walker also sits at third in the conference in both hits per game (1.46) and runs per game (1.21).

The Panthers (14-10) play Lyndon State today at home at 4:00 p.m.



Midd Cheer wins first place at the Spring Spectacular

Midd Cheer won first place in their division at the American Cheer & Dance Academy Spring Spectacular on April 29 at Six Flags in Springfield, Mass.

Ryan Tauriainen '08, Jean Lin '10, Judith Dry '09, Alina Levina '09, Bobby Joe Smith '09 and Julio Navarro '09 were last to compete, but were not least in the eyes of the judges. It certainly was a long day - the competition ran from 7 a.m to 7 p.m. - but it turned out to be worth it.