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(04/11/18 9:03pm)
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The women’s lacrosse team squared off with Nescac rival Colby on Saturday, April 7, on its home turf at Kohn Field. In a hard-fought battle, No. 15 Colby thwarted two Middlebury comeback attempts to defeat the No. 9 Panthers 14–12, handing them their first conference loss and knocking them out of first place in the standings.
Going into the contest on Saturday, the Panthers knew they were in for a battle, even though the Mules entered with a 1–4 Nescac mark. All four of Colby’s losses came by two goals or fewer.
The Panthers also knew Colby like the back of their hands after playing them three times last season. In 2017, they fell to the Mules in the regular season 9–6. Then, during the Nescac semifinals, they got another opportunity to topple the Mules. But they were unable to finish off any of their fast breaks past the Colby defense in a 10–9 loss.
These hard losses taught the Panthers some valuable lessons, and in the second round of the NCAA tournament, they sought revenge and ended the Mules’ season when Jenna McNicholas ’19 knocked in the game-winning goal in the final seconds to seal a 10–9 victory for the Panthers.
With these fresh memories in their minds, the Panthers and the Mules took the field on Saturday. And in the first 15 minutes of action, Colby proved they were much better than their record indicated, jumping out to a 4–0 lead before Middlebury even had a chance to blink.
Erin Nicholas ’21 got Middlebury on the scoreboard by hammering in a pass from MG Gately ’20. Her goal marked a momentum shift for the Panthers, as teammates Henley Hall ’19 and Kate Zecca ’20 followed her lead, slapping two more shots home.
With Middlebury inching its way back to a tie score, Colby increased its advantage to two when Kendall Smith scored on a free-position shot. Emily Barnard ’20 took the two-goal lead away when she found an opening and narrowed the score to 5–4. Both teams added an additional goal to their totals in the last two minutes of the first half, and Colby led 6–5 at the halfway point.
The hosts started the second period of play in a promising way. Barnard recorded her second goal of the day within seconds of the first whistle to knot the score. Despite mounting pressure in a tied conference game, the Mules passed through the usually impermeable Middlebury defense and knocked a shot past the Panther goalie a few minutes later. They continued to score four more unanswered goals to build the largest lead of Saturday’s game. Behind by five, Middlebury took a timeout.
“We knew that we were much better than the way that we were playing so we took a few timeouts to collect ourselves,” said Erin Nicholas ’21 afterwards. “We knew the deficit should not have been what it was.
The Panthers put their heads down and got to work, scoring six of the next seven goals. Kirsten Murphy ’21’s goal with 3:44 remaining tied the game at 12.
“We picked up our energy and our level of play, and built off each other’s momentum,” added Nicholas. “Once we got one goal, the others came a lot easier. It got more and more exciting with each goal. The home field advantage helped a lot with fans and family and playing on our home turf was definitely more comfortable.”
The crowd at Kohn Field came alive as the Panthers fought back into the game. Both teams had multiple opportunities, but it was Colby who capitalized on two of their quick breaks and found the back of the Middlebury net twice to earn a 14–12 victory.
The loss dropped Middlebury to 5–1 in the Nescac and 9–2 overall. Barring results from last night’s late games, the Panthers are in fourth place in the conference standings, behind No. 6 Tufts and No. 4 Amherst with Tufts standing alone at the top. Colby moved into a tie with Hamilton for seventh place in the standings, as both teams sit at 2–4.
Saturday’s game demonstrated just how much parity and competition there is in the Nescac this season.
“The conference is so competitive in the way that any team could win on any given day,” said Zecca. “Unfortunately, Saturday was not our day.”
Saturday’s game is just that, though — one game — and the Panthers know there is still a lot of season left.
“We know that we are the better team,” added Zecca. “It just comes down to putting our beliefs into action. We hope to see Colby again in the postseason so that we get another chance to prove our talent, drive, and desire to win. We don’t need to change our play to beat Colby. We just need to come out strong and play our game.”
One positive from Saturday’s game was the return of goalie Kate Furber ’19 from an injury that sidelined her for the first 10 games of the season. Furber started 24 games in her first two seasons in the blue-and-white and returned on Saturday to relieve Julia Keith ’20. Keith has started all 11 games this season and played admirably in Furber’s absence, with 65 saves for the Nescac’s top defense.
Middlebury’s situation at goalie is not unlike anywhere else on the field — full of depth and ready to withstand any injury that may occur.
“Losing any member of our team, whether they start or not, is always going to have a large impact on our team,” said Zecca. “Furber has worked tirelessly to recover as quickly as possible, but her support and encouragement this past season [have] impacted our game just as much as if she were healthy and playing. One of the most powerful things about our team this year is our depth. Any member of the team can step up and perform when needed, just as Keith, and many other players, have demonstrated so far.”
Despite the hard loss, the team hold their heads up high as they remember what happened the previous year after a harsh reminder of their vulnerability. The team is excited to hopefully face the Mules again in the Nescac tournament. Next up, the Panthers take on No. 8 Trinity on Kohn Field this Saturday, April 14, at 2 p.m., in another important conference matchup against head coach Kate Livesay ’03’s former team with the opportunity to leapfrog the Bantams in the standings.
More importantly, the game will provide another tough test for Middlebury, who needs to continue to improve after having some vulnerabilities exposed last Saturday.
(04/11/18 8:56pm)
In a battle of Nescac heavyweights, the No. 2 Williams women’s tennis team delivered the first two punches and outlasted No. 5 Middlebury 5–4 on Saturday, April 7, in a match reminiscent of the two teams’ showdown in the semifinals of last season’s NCAA tournament, when Williams ended Middlebury’s season with a 5–4 victory.
Over the past two seasons, the rivalry between Middlebury and Williams has reached a new stratosphere, as they have faced off in the Nescac championship game each of the past two seasons, and in the NCAA tournament last year as well. During this time, the teams have met five times in all.
Even after a delayed start due to the men’s match between Williams and Middlebury, Lansing Chapman Rink was abuzz from the moment the Nescac rivals took to the court on Saturday afternoon.
Christina Puccinelli ’19 said, “the energy was palpable,” all afternoon and into the evening. “Each player on both teams came prepared for a long day,” she added. And a long day they got.
The Ephs scored first, jumping on the Panthers to take the first two doubles matches in the first and second slot. The Panthers salvaged a point at third doubles, when Christina Puccinelli ’19 and Heather Boehm ’20 climbed out of a 5–2 hole to defeat Giulia McDonnell Nieto del Rio and Emily Zheng 9–7.
And then Catherine Blazye ’20 tied the match at two by quickly dismissing Chloe Henderson 6–2, 6–0 in fourth singles. Just like that, it was a new match between the fierce rivals, as each needed three more wins to secure their biggest victory in the conference regular season.
Instead of folding after falling behind the second-ranked Ephs, the Panthers stayed the course and remained confident.
“Although we were down 1-2 after doubles, we did a very good job of switching our attention immediately to singles and heading into our next matches with confidence and focus,” Puccinelli said.
But Williams came right back to take the next two matches in straight sets in the second and first slots, putting themselves one win away from victory.
With her team’s back against the wall, Boehm won her second match of the day to keep Middlebury alive, even after losing her first set to Leah Bush 2–6. She took the next set 6–4, before Bush retired, ceding the match to Boehm in the third slot. The sophomore continued her strong spring, extending her unbeaten streak in singles to nine matches, as she breathed some life back into Middlebury’s sails for the second time on Saturday.
Williams would not be denied though, sealing the match in the fifth slot where Mia Gancayco defeated Skylar Schossberger ’20 6–1, 6–3 to put the Ephs ahead 5–3.
Perhaps as telling as anything on Saturday, Maddi Stow ’20 won the last match of the day by defeating Julia Cancio 7–5, 6–4 in the sixth slot after Williams had won the match. Stow’s victory had no bearing on the grander scheme of Saturday’s match, but the sophomore still managed to rally to beat her opponent in straight sets.
“We ended up losing, but we remained positive and composed until the last shot was hit,” said Puccinelli. “It also helped to end on a high note, with our sophomore Maddi Stow closing the night out with a win.”
In the end, only one match separated the Nescac rivals on Saturday, just like their final match of 2017. No one on Middlebury believes Saturday did anything to separate the two teams.
“I do not believe there was any difference in ability which affected Saturday’s matchup,” Schossberger said. “The fact is anybody can lose to anybody on any given day.”
Puccinelli echoed her teammates’ words, saying “To be perfectly honest, given the talent on both teams, I think the match could have gone either way. They happened to come out on top this time, but we came away from the match with absolute confidence that we have what it takes to win in the future.”
Of course, the Panthers would love another shot at their nemesis, after having demonstrated again they could play with the Ephs.
“The goal is to get another chance at Williams,” said Blazye. “I can’t wait to see what the rest of the season hold for our team.”
Right now, Williams is the last undefeated team in the Nescac (11–0) and seems primed to make runs at its sixth Nescac championship in eight years and ninth NCAA championship in the last 11 years.
If the Panthers (7–2) want another shot at their rivals, they will need to buckle down for the rest of their Nescac schedule, which includes bouts with No. 14 Bowdoin, No. 29 Trinity, No. 4 Wesleyan and No. 8 Amherst. They showed considerable mettle on Saturday, despite the final result. Replicating that form the rest of the way will be key to earning another match against Williams, since another meeting would likely be in a higher stakes match.
If history repeats itself, they will meet again in the Nescac or NCAA tournaments. And if history repeats itself, Middlebury may come out on top next time around. Remember, Middlebury won in the regular season last year but lost to the Ephs in Nescacs and NCAAs — The Panthers certainly recall that fact.
“We would love to get the chance to play Williams again in the post-season,” said Puccinelli. “Not only is it always fun to play our rivals, but we’ve also developed great relationships with the players on their team. Of course, we now have the added incentive of staging a comeback, so stay tuned.”
(04/11/18 8:51pm)
As the season is still in its early stages for the men’s and women’s outdoor track team, the runners are trying their best to build up momentum. Their early successes will be crucial for confidence building.
“We definitely exceeded our expectations,” Nick Hendrix ’20 said in reference to some of the Panthers’ previous meets. “To get off a flight on Friday and then win the PLNU Invitational the next day was a fantastic way to start the season. We had some excellent individual performances from some of our more experienced athletes, and the freshmen had some really encouraging performances.”
The spring trip, while challenging, has the track and field teams feeling prepared for the meets ahead.
“I think everyone was a bit tired going into the second meet after a week of hard training in the sun,” said Hendrix in reference to the California Collegiate Open, in which the Panthers partook over the spring trip. “We held our own against some high-caliber competition, including some DI schools, so I think this bodes very well for us going into the rest of the season.”
“People came in with a positive attitude, which helped us perform well,” added Katie Glew ’21.
All of this is good news for the Panthers, as the conference meet and DIII New Englands are only a few short weeks away. Due to the pace of the schedule, there is no time to waste. Improvements and getting the team to bond together will have to occur quickly.
On Saturday, April 7, the Panthers continued their success as they participated in the Amherst Spring Fling. Both the men and women came in fourth in total fields of seven teams.
The men were able to score 49 points at the meet, which WPI won.
Some important performers include Nathan Hill ’20, who was able to come in first in the 1500-meter race with a time of 4:00.40. In this race, Will Meyer ’20 came in fifth with a time of 4:04.00.
A time of 15:23.44 netted Theo Henderson ’20 a first-place finish in the 5000-meter race. Henderson was followed by Henry Fleming ’20, who had a time of 15:38.79 to get fourth place. Also, Minhaj Rahman ’19 threw a distance of 51.80 meters to capture first in the hammer-throw event.
The women’s team amassed 72 points, 17 behind the first place finishers, WPI.
There were several important performers for the women’s team. In the 400-meter dash, Gretchen McGrath ’21 and Kai Milici ’21 placed sixth and seventh, respectively. McGrath had a time of 1:03.30, and Milici had a time of 1:03.38. Abigail Nadler ’19 and Read Allen ’18 were able to capture the top two spots of the 5000-meter run with times of 17:47.34 and 18:12.81, respectively. Also, Panthers placed in each of the top three spots in the shot-put event. Helene Rowland ’20 got first-place honors by throwing 11.58 meters. Rowland was followed by Lauren Boyd ’21, whose toss went 10.46 meters, and Kiera Dowell ’20, who threw 9.88 meters.
“The team’s level of performance was good considering the elements,” said Meyer, the fifth-place finisher in the men’s 1500-meter race. “It was windy and in the high 30s for most of the day. We had a couple personal bests and performed well relative to the competition, winning several events.”
The excitement for what the outdoor season has to offer is growing, and hopefully that will lead to success.
“We have a really strong and supportive team this year,” said Glew, adding, “We’re definitely capable of accomplishing a lot this season.”
The track and field teams will host the Panther Spring Invitational tomorrow and Saturday, April 13–14. The festivities tomorrow are slated to begin at noon. Catch the Panthers as they hope to stay on track and continue to get settled into the season.
(04/11/18 8:49pm)
For the first time this season, the men’s lacrosse team (5–5, 3–4) won back-to-back games with last week’s pair of road victories over Nescac cellar-dwellers Hamilton and Colby. Their 12–6 win over Hamilton in midweek action saw the Panthers play some of their best lacrosse of the season, and their 11–10 victory in Waterville last Saturday, April 7, demonstrated the team’s grit.
“It felt good to get momentum back on our side,” said Chase Goree ’20. “Our confidence was [shaken] during that three-game skid, and now we are starting to realize the type of swagger and competitiveness it takes to compete with teams in our conference.”
The pair of conference wins puts the Panthers in position to complete in postseason play. If the season ended today, Middlebury would be the seven seed in next month’s conference tournament — they hold the edge in the standings over Bates thanks to their head-to-head victory.
Last Wednesday’s game against Hamilton is worth special consideration because the Panthers were at their best.
“The offense moved the ball quickly and played together to generate some nice looks,” said Danny Jacobs ’20. Ball movement and team offense keyed the Panthers to their largest margin of victory of the season so far.
The Panthers saw their share of upstate New York and New England in the last week, too. After the midweek game in Clinton, New York, the Panthers headed east to Waterville, Maine, to take on the Colby Mules last Saturday.
After a tightly-contested first quarter, the Panthers trailed the Mules 4–3. Nonetheless, carrying their momentum from the Hamilton game into Waterville, the Middlebury defense managed to contain the Mules’ attack. Colby scored only a single goal in the second and third quarters.
The Panthers dominated on all fronts in the second quarter, outscoring the Mules 4–1.
When Henry Riehl ’18 found the back of the net midway through the second quarter, putting the Panthers up 6–4, he also extended his goal-scoring streak to 17 straight games in the process. Although an impressive feat, it almost went unnoticed by Riehl, who credits his teammates and his drive to inspire those around him as well.
“I actually had no idea I had that goal-scoring streak,” Riehl said. “It’s pretty exciting to hear that, and I think it’s a testament to the other guys out there every game. I’m fortunate enough to play with some great passers like A.J. Kucinski ’20 that make my life pretty easy. I try to lead by example, so I hope my tenacity on offense motivates my teammates to play with that same intensity.”
Though Colby managed to score three in the final quarter, the Panthers were able to slot home three goals of their own to leave the Pine Tree State victorious.
The offense has clicked for the Panthers recently, as they demonstrated in high-scoring quarters in their past two games. Not only has the defense done a better job of shutting down opportunities for opponents to reel themselves back into games, but the Panthers have stuck to their guns and philosophies to ensure offensive efficiency.
“We preach as an offensive group to not get ‘tunnel vision’ and to ‘hit singles.’ When all six offensive players are doing their best to maintain these two principles, we are hard to stop,” Goree mentioned.
In spite of their two-game win streak and reviving their playoff hopes, the Panthers are usually unconcerned with rankings. They believe they will be a playoff-bound team that is capable of defeating anyone.
“We take it one day at a time and look to be playing our best lacrosse in the month of May,” Riehl stated. “If we approach every day with this mindset, the rest should take care of itself.”
After last night’s midweek action at Springfield, the Panthers are now three games into a stretch of five straight that they have to play on the road. With a 2–0 start, the team is looking forward to gaining wins away from home and solidifying their presence in the conference in spite of the midweek travel challenges.
“Playing away from home is difficult in general but extremely difficult in the Nescac,” Goree said. “Every opponent is capable of beating anyone, so you really have to bring it every time you step on someone else’s turf.”
Surely the Panthers are more than ready and equipped to take down any Nescac opponent. They will be in action again this Saturday, April 14, in Hartford, Connecticut, for a conference bout with Trinity (4–6, 1–5).
(04/11/18 8:47pm)
Following a hard-fought, 4–3, midweek victory over Plattsburgh, the softball team took to the road to take on No. 17 Amherst (17–2, 5–0) for a three-game set last weekend.
The Panthers fell to the Mammoths on Saturday, April 7, by a final score of 9–4, and dropped both games of their doubleheader on Sunday, April 8, by scores of 3–0 and 7–2. After getting swept on the road, the Panthers stand at .500, 7–7, as they enter the heart of their schedule.
Though the Panthers had solid offensive and defensive efforts, the Mammoths’ pitching, led by 12.2 innings of Lorena Ukanwa and her 10–0 record, kept the Panthers from doing any meaningful damage.
Senior captain Kati Daczkowski ’18 hopes to look forward from the losses and work on facing the next competition, especially in Nescac play.
“We have to keep moving forward and improving our play,” Daczkowski said, “We’re looking forward to this week and new competition.”
The highlight of the week, and potentially the season so far, was the Panthers’ effort against Plattsburgh. On the road at Cardinal Park, on a cold Wednesday, April 4, afternoon, the Panthers used a total-team effort to come from behind and beat Plattsburgh.
The Middlebury captains’ preseason hope to use their small size to their advantage was validated, as every player had a hand in the victory against the Cardinals.
Emily Morris ’21 pitched a great game for the Panthers. On the mound, she recorded seven timely strikeouts to highlight a strong performance. Plattsburgh was only able to get four hits off of her.
The offensive side of the Panthers put in an all-team effort and a strong start. Early in the first inning, after an Allison Quigley ’18 single moved Olivia Bravo ’20 and Melanie Mandell ’20 to second and third, respectively, Taylor Gardner ’18 came up with the bases loaded. Gardner grounded into a would-be fielder’s choice, but an error by the Cardinals’ pitcher allowed her to reach safely as Bravo crossed the plate. With the bases still loaded, Lisa Tarr ’19 stepped up to the plate and struck out. However, a passed ball allowed Tarr to reach safely, and Mandell crossed the plate for the second run on an error in as many batters for the Panthers.
Heading into the fifth, the Panthers trailed the Cardinals 3–2 when, luckily for Middlebury, Bravo continued her stellar day, sending a two-out triple to center. Mandell then came up and hit what seemed to be an inning-ending grounder to the pitcher. However, for the second time in the game an error by the Cardinals’ pitcher extended the inning. A throwing error to first allowed Bravo to score and Mandell to reach base safety.
If things were not already wacky and exciting enough, the Panthers took back the lead in the sixth on a Plattsburgh wild pitch, which allowed Gardner to score what would be the game’s decisive run as the Panthers came out victorious, 4–3.
After some weather-pending midweek action — a doubleheader against Castleton — the Panthers are set to host Hamilton tomorrow evening at 5 p.m. for the first game of an important three-game set, with a doubleheader scheduled to start at noon on Saturday.
(04/11/18 8:41pm)
Last week, Middlebury baseball hit the road to take on the Wesleyan in the Panthers’ second Nescac series of the season. The previous week’s strong performance, in which the Panthers took two out of three from Williams, gave the team a boost of confidence going into the series. Unfortunately, it seems the Panthers were not able to channel the same fierceness and their high morale into last week’s games, as the Cardinals broke out the brooms.
The series kicked off with a doubleheader on Saturday, April 7, during which the Cardinals took a 1–0 lead right off the bat in the first inning. Middlebury was able to hold the Cardinals for the remainder of the game with strong defensive play on the mound from junior captain Colby Morris ’19, who managed to throw out eight Cardinals and let up only one run on four hits. The Panthers found little luck at the plate though, tallying 10 strikeouts and zero hits.
Errors and walks killed any shot the Panthers had in the second game of the series. The second inning was especially bad, as the Cardinals scored six of their 12 runs, registering only one hit in the process. The Panthers put up a strong fight, scoring four in the seventh inning and then four in the ninth, but it wasn’t enough to overtake the Cardinals, and the game ended in a 12–8 loss for the Panthers. Sam Graf ’19, Brendan Donahue ’18, Henry Strmecki ’21 and Gray Goolsby ’20 all got on base and scored for Middlebury, and both Justin Han ’20 and Brooks Carroll ’20 finished with a pair of runs.
Will Oppenheim ’21 took a hard loss on the mound, letting up the six runs in the second inning. “I really need to be able to repeat my mechanics more so I can throw more strikes and go deeper into games and walk fewer people,” Oppenheim said.
However, this performance will likely be only a small bump in the road for Oppenheim. In his short time playing at the college level, the first-year currently sports a 3.14 ERA and 13 strikeouts, third only to captains Morris and Rob Erikson ’18, who have fanned 30 and 14, respectively.
Sunday’s get-out-of-town game brought a similar outcome for the Panthers. The Cardinals were again the first to score, putting up an impressive seven runs in the first inning. They then tacked on two more in the third and another in the seventh. Middlebury seemed to answer, scoring six runs by the end of the sixth inning, but they were not able to come back and fell 10–6.
According to Han, the team was well aware of Wesleyan’s skill going into the series and took measures to prepare for the challenge.
“We had scouting reports for Wesleyan’s pitchers to prepare for the weekend. We knew their guys would throw a lot of balls and [that] we would need to be selective at the plate,” Han said. The Panthers tried not to concern themselves too much with the other team’s past success, however.
“We just focused on playing our game,” explained Morris.
Understandably, the team’s vibe coming off this tough series was starkly different from that of the previous week’s games.
“Mentally we were confident after playing Williams and had faith in our lineup top to bottom,” said Morris — a readiness echoed by Han.
“We were very confident after a strong performance against Williams the previous weekend,” Han said. “We were prepared and ready to compete.”
Morris attributes the difference in last week’s performance to a lack of fire.“We didn’t play the whole series with confidence,” said Morris, who added, “we found ourselves on our heels, especially early on in games one and two.”
Despite this, he remains extremely positive and optimistic about what the future holds for the Panthers.
“We aren’t stoked with where we are, but that just makes us hungrier for the next game,” Morris said. “For whatever reason we like being the underdog, and we find ourselves in that familiar place again. People are going to doubt us after we doubted ourselves at times this past weekend, but it’s a privilege to play this game. So, regardless of our position, our mentality is for them to bring it on.”
Additionally, the team still has their sights set on winning the Nescac championship.
“We will not let a single win or loss deter us from our goal,” a determined Han declared.
After this week’s midweek action (barring weather), the Panthers host Amherst tomorrow afternoon at 4 p.m. for the first of three-game set.
“I think playing at home will be a huge advantage this week. Traveling definitely takes a toll on us, so being home this weekend will be nice,” Oppenheim said.
(04/11/18 8:39pm)
Travelling south to Massachusetts to take on No. 5 Williams and No. 15 Tufts for their first matches since spring break, the men’s tennis team had a lot to be excited about. For one, Williams recently beat No. 6 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, who two weekends ago handed Middlebury their first loss of the season against DIII competition. On top of that, standout Noah Farrell ’19 made his return to play his first match of the spring, and Will de Quant ’18 was settling in in his second singles match of the spring. Thus, the Panthers drove to Williamstown with the goal of defending their high national ranking before the new Oracle ITA DIII National Rankings come out.
The Panthers, however, found themselves in a big hole early, losing all three doubles matches. Middlebury, who is 30–12 this spring in doubles, could not convert on any of the closely contested matches. De Quant, who is making his own return to the courts this spring, teamed up with Farrell in his much-anticipated return to action. The two lost in a tiebreak, 9–8 (7–4).
“What separates us from Williams in doubles was just one or two points,” de Quant assured. “Nothing more than that. That is the beauty of sports, and if we take away the most important information from that match and work on key things this week during practice, we will win those points next time and be in a stronger position going into singles.”
He may be right. Timo van der Geest ’18 and Peter Martin ’19 lost by the same close score, while Lubo Cuba ’19 and Kyle Schlanger ’18 went down 9–7 in just their third loss in 13 matches.
De Quant noted that such a 0–3 deficit to start the match can be demoralizing.
“Going down 3–0 by losing two doubles tiebreakers can be a big blow to the morale,” de Quant said.
“Our team displayed a lot of poise and competitive spirit in the face of an 0–3 deficit, and we battled back hard,” assistant coach Andrew Thomson said. De Quant was the first to do so, and in convincing fashion.
“My focus was on inserting as much energy and intensity into the overall match as possible,” de Quant said.
“We really wanted to get a point on the board as quickly as possible to build some momentum, and I knew that If I played focused and intense, I would be able to do that,” de Quant said of his rebounding performance against Williams’ Sachin Raghavan. De Quant must have been focused indeed, having the strongest win of the day with a dominant 6–2, 6–3 victory. Picking up his first win of the spring, de Quant added, “Even though I lost a tight match against CMS, I was happy to be back on court and competing at a high level for the team. After that match, I knew that if I focused on finding my rhythm and patterns again, my confidence would follow. I am enjoying being back out on court and still working to get back to the level of play I know I am capable of. This weekend was a step in the right direction.”
As for steps in the right direction, Farrell in the No. 2 spot was next to finish after de Quant. He came back from a 0–6 loss in the first set to power his way to a win 6–3, 6–3 in the final two sets. The coaching staff as well as the players were clearly anxious to get Farrell back on court. “It was a particular treat to watch [Farrell] back in action and competing with exemplary fight and courage in his three-set comeback victory,” said Thomson. On de Quant, he added, “[he] is also continuing to get healthier and healthier and matched Noah’s focused matchplay against Williams with a rock-solid performance.”
And it wasn’t just those returning from injury who impressed last weekend. De Quant added, “We competed very hard, and guys showed grit and determination down 3–0 against Williams.” Cuba fit this description well. Though he suffered his third loss of the season, he pushed Brian Grodecki to a marathon third-set tiebreak. This put the Panthers down 4–2. Any more singles wins for Williams would seal the match. The next three matches proved incredibly close. Schlanger won the first set in his match at No. 4, but lost the next two, sealing the match for Williams. The dense bottom of Middlebury’s ladder again proved too strong. The Panthers have dominated at the No. 5 and No. 6 spots, going 12–2 at both positions. Saturday was no different, as first-year Andre Xiao ’21 picked up an impressive ninth win this spring. Even so, Xiao himself needed a tiebreak to win, and van der Geest rounded out the scoring with a marathon comeback win, 10–8, in the third set. These wins did have significant meaning, assured Thomson, who said, “We are definitely remaining steadfast in our belief that each of these match experiences will bolster our resilience and also [provide] feedback on what we need to work on moving forward to increase the probability of pulling through when it matters most, toward the end of the year.” The final score was 5–4 for the Ephs.
“The team had to bounce back quickly and definitely responded brilliantly, getting a victory over a very tough Tufts team on the road,” Thomson said. The Panthers indeed had little time to waste or worry, with no small task in beating Tufts on the road the very next day. However, they started on the road to redemption early, winning two out of three doubles matches in convincing fashion. Though they struggled at the No. 2 and No. 3 positions, the Panthers again dominated down the ladder, winning matches in the fourth through sixth slots, highlighted by a 6–1, 6–2 win by Schlanger.
At No. 1, Cuba also proved unfazed by yesterday’s close defeat and made quick work of Tufts’ Rohan Gupte. De Quant praised the performance of Xiao and Nate Eazor ’21.
“Two freshmen closed out our match against an inspired Tufts team, in difficult conditions and with huge pressure, so there are a lot of great things to take away from this weekend,” de Quant said. “Overall, we are on the right path upwards and have an amazing group of competitors top to bottom, so I am very positive going into the Bowdoin weekend.”
Remaining hopeful and rightfully pleased with the Tufts result, de Quant couldn’t help but make reference to this coming weekend’s slate. Current No. 2 Bowdoin will come over to Middlebury to face the Panthers on their home courts.
With everyone back from injury and in the swing of things, don’t take Midd’s losses to top-ranked CMS and Williams as indicative of a result this weekend. Undefeated Bowdoin has dominated numerous ranked opponents this year, including CMS, but be ready to watch the Panthers shake the rankings up again with their full lineup ready to go.
(04/11/18 3:44pm)
The Patton administration faced widespread outrage from professors regarding salary practices for top officials at a faculty meeting on April 6. The faculty railed against bonuses and mismanagement, as well as payouts during the Liebowitz administration, which ended in 2015.
President Laurie L. Patton discussed executive pay during her routine report to the faculty and emphasized that she is committed to using fewer stay bonuses of smaller amounts. Stay bonuses were a main point of criticism in physics professor Noah Graham’s op-ed, “Executive Pay and Why It Matters,” published in the March 15 issue of The Campus.
“I’m still interested in maintaining a very modest use of these bonuses because they are used in higher ed to prevent a kind of constant searching and turning over,” Patton said. “But as you saw from the data, my interest and commitment to them is very modest. They are one tool among many, and I am committed to moving to most of those other tools before we do that.”
Though Patton was unable to stay after concluding her presentation, Provost gave a more in-depth presentation on the subject later in the meeting. Provost provided specifics regarding previously-issued retention bonuses.
“Since 2009, there were 11 different retention bonuses involving seven different administrators, ranging in annual amounts from $50,000 to $100,000. Those yielded pay outs anywhere from $100,000 to $500,000,” Provost said.
“Today there are three retention bonuses that range in the $40,000 to $50,000 range, with total expected payouts of $150,000 to $250,000” he added.
Cason, who presented alongside Provost, told the faculty that he was one of the three remaining employees with a retention bonus.
“This was offered to me in Laurie’s first year when I was interviewing for another presidency,” Cason said. “I’m just putting that out there, that’s just a fact. If I had understood how this was going to go on, I might have asked for a different kind of compensation at the time. I didn’t ask for [a stay bonus], so I’ll say that.”
Provost argued that stay bonuses are effective, given that they have resulted in faculty recipients remaining at the college for the duration of their bonus’ payout. Faculty had additional questions regarding the purpose of stay bonuses, however.
“Any of the previous 11 that were put in place in all cases achieved their anniversary date,” Provost said. “Yes, they worked from the standpoint of keeping that person here.”
Jason Mittell, a film professor, argued that some of the faculty who remained at Middlebury due to stay bonuses actually harmed the college.
“People were highly compensated at the exact same time that they were making financially irresponsible decisions at the college, which then they had left for Laurie and David to correct,” Mittell said. “What type of accountability has the board of trustees talked about for this? It’s the fault of people who made a lot of money from us while spending a lot of our money and mortgaging our future. . . . How do we make sure most importantly, that this never happens again?”
Erik Bleich, professor of political science, argued that stay bonuses actually encourage administrators to leave once they receive their full bonus.
“If I put myself in the position of someone who’s about to get a $500,000 pay out and then look the next year at the measly salary of $240,000, it’s an incentive to leave, an incentive to leverage that moment to exit,” Bleich said.
Earlier in his presentation, Provost stated that he had in fact been the recipient of a retention bonus at Champlain College, where he worked before coming to Middlebury.
“I had one previously at Champlain during the last presidential transition,” Provost said. “I had played a very active role in the transformation of Champlain, so they tied my hands for four years knowing they wanted me there. That had expired this past June, so when I started a conversation with Laurie, that wasn’t hanging over my head.”
In outlining potential reforms to the current executive pay system, Patton said that she and Provost were open to the idea of formulating stay bonuses in accordance with employees’ individual performance. She also said she was committed to maintaining the costs of and reducing the size of the Senior Leadership Group (SLG), citing that the costs of the SLG were already $30,000 less than they were last year.
Patton said that the college had decided not to award any employee making over $200,000 a raise last year, and shared information regarding her own salary, emphasizing that her take home pay is even less than that listed on the 990 tax form where the college reports executive pay.
“I do not have a retention bonus and my salary is $575,000,” Patton said. “I tied in scholarships and in fact I just finished my taxes, and with all the other charitable deductions I actually make about three-fifths of that. I am happy to share anything more about my own finances if you’d like to talk.”
Patton also reiterated her commitment to paying administrators in accordance with a “market rate.”
“To ask anyone to do these really tough jobs, tougher than they’ve ever been, and not pay market rate for folks to do these jobs doesn’t seem fair to either the candidates or to Middlebury,” Patton said.
Provost explained that the college decides on executive compensation by reviewing market information and by analyzing peer institutions. Patton then recommends executive compensation to the compensation committee, which is made up of the board chair, vice chair, resource committee chair and one additional board member. The compensation committee then approves the President’s recommendations.
Provost’s presentation compared peer institutions’ executive pay to Middlebury’s. The college’s total executive pay of $4.1 million dollars was higher than the $3.6 million average of its peer institutions.
Rick Bunt, a chemistry professor, argued that this gap of 14 percent between the peer group average suggested that the compensation committee did not actually base executive pay off of a “market value.”
“These institutions, Williams, Amherst, all have endowments at least twice our size,” Bunt said. “So our compensation for our top executives is supposed to be market driven, but its 14 percent above average.”
Bunt argued that this is unfair to faculty and staff, given their comparative wages.
“I’m pretty sure our faculty compensation is not 14 percent above average, and I’m really, really sure that our staff compensation is not 14 percent above average,” Bunt said. “We’re committed to paying market rate for our executives for running the school, why shouldn’t we pay market rate to the staff and faculty who actually do the hard work of educating the students?”
Provost explained that the stay bonuses, which will apparently continue to decline in number and value, were responsible for this 14 percent difference.
While Provost revealed that the college does not review staff compensation in the context of a such a “market rate” every year, he said that he and Patton hope to establish faculty compensation at an above average rate compared to their peers. He also said that most college staff actually earn above average wages.
“Laurie is not trying to pay the executives here differently than the faculty or the staff. That is not a goal,” Provost said. “It is our intention to pay our faculty at above market median. On the staff compensation, we are for the most part above the median, there are a few exceptions. We’ve been working with human resources to conduct a compensation study that will address that.”
Provost said that he hoped sharing the 990 tax forms with faculty sooner would help increase transparency.
“I don’t want to speak especially for the past board,” Provost said. “The folks on the resource committee are in that way of thinking, of saying if we see a 990 two years after the fact, that’s not prevention, that’s not awareness of what’s going on, so why aren’t we communicating these in real time when that’s happening? And you heard Laurie say she’s open to that conversation. So if that was in place that would help prevent it before it’s old news.”
Provost also announced that former President Ronald Liebowitz received a sizeable payout, the quantity of which will be released in early May with the disclosure of the FY ’17 990.
In their questions for Provost, faculty members criticized the conduct of past and present administrators, as well as some of the potential methods they feared the college would take to save money in the future.
Susan Burch, a professor of American studies, said that Provost and Cason brought up adjusting healthcare plans in their meeting with faculty earlier in the week.
“I’m very concerned to hear that [health care] might be leveraged. Please don’t do that,” she said.
While Provost said that he believes the college spends too much on healthcare, he clarified that they have delayed the decision on changing healthcare another year at the earliest due to employee concerns.
“Our existing health benefits at $25,000 a family, it’s too much, we’re going to spend $422,000 this year on massage therapy,” Provost said. “You as faculty have to come to the table and say this isn’t about destroying people’s healthcare. I couldn’t agree with you more. My concern is we can’t even have the conversation because that is what is inferred. I don’t like that we’re paying $25,000 per family, it’s probably not worth it, but I hope we can find common ground on some things we should talk about.”
Though Provost had no control over the order of the meeting agenda, history professor Rebecca Bennette expressed frustration that Provost’s presentation was the final one in a nearly four-hour long meeting.
“I’m deeply disturbed that you basically waited us out until almost everyone left and Laurie’s not even here to be here for this conversation. This should have been first,” Bennette said.
John Schmitt, a professor of mathematics, defended Provost and encouraged faculty to view him as an ally.
“I’ve been working with David since September and we have an opportunity here that didn’t exist under the previous administration,” Schmitt said. “David is looking to empower us to make good decisions about our future. We’re not going to get Ron’s payment back. And I’m hopeful that we see David as an ally.”
However, faculty continued to voice criticisms. Tamar Mayer, a geography professor, suggested selling the Middlebury Institute at Monterey in order to save money, to which several faculty voiced support.
Provost replied that though this might not be off-limits, it is not a simple fix to the college’s financial problems, and there are reasons to keep the Institute.
“The spirit of my approach is that I want everything on the table,” Provost said. “But if we’re serious about a conversation about things we want to explore, for me we’re the only one of those peer institutions up there that has a physical campus in the backyard of Silicon Valley. We have not leveraged a resource that we decided to invest in and it sits out there.”
Erik Bleich, professor of political science, issued Provost a warning.
“The decisions that have been made in the past, and some of the current administrators were involved in those decisions, were a disaster,” Bleich said. “I want you all on warning. Don’t let this happen again.”
Bennette argued that the current administration should begin to take more responsibility for the financial state of the college.
“We’re three years into this presidency now. And I’m not saying this was the greatest inheritance to come in to as a president. But you can play a hand of cards good or you can play it poorly, and I think a lot of people think it was not played that well.”
Provost urged faculty to view the college’s financial problems as more complex than a simple issue of executive overcompensation, and to recognize some of the positive conditions at the college.
“If we think Middlebury’s financial difficulties are caused by executive compensation, we won’t solve our problems,” Provost said. “Is there some responsibility there? Absolutely. But we are a very privileged organization. We have a lot of employees. We pay people well. Our benefits are off the charts. And if we aren’t willing to put everything on the table, we aren’t going to solve these problems.”
(04/05/18 1:38am)
MIDDLEBURY — Earlier this month, the Vermont House of Representatives passed a bill changing the relationship between small breweries and distributors in the state. The bill now goes to the Senate, which is set to vote in the coming weeks. If ratified, the new law would give brewers more flexibility to leave contracts, a move that reflects their growing prominence.
Relationships between breweries and distributors are crucial to the beer industry. Small to midsize producers such as Drop-In and Otter Creek in Middlebury rely on agreements with large distributors to market, transport and place their products. At the same time, distributors benefit from the strength of local brands in growing and diversifying their businesses, which mostly consists of highlighting multinational brands such as Anheuser Busch and Molson Coors.
Under the current system, however, brewers have little negotiating power over these agreements. Existing franchise laws make it effectively impossible for brewers to leave contracts— a vestige of the 1970s when Vermont was populated by many small distributors and few large beer companies. At the time, mom and pop wholesalers feared that powerful brands could pull their beer at any time with little financial repercussion. In response, the legislature drafted laws requiring brands to prove in court “good cause” to leave a contract. Even then, wholesalers would have 120 days to fix their problems, at which point both parties had to remain in the agreement.
Today, the landscape for breweries in Vermont has dramatically shifted. There are 51 small breweries and only four distributors. While their relationships are mostly amicable, brewers recognize the imbalance in negotiating power if problems were to ever appear.
“The wholesalers dwarf the little breweries,” explained Steve Parkes of Drop-In Brewery. “If we were to become unhappy for whatever reason, with the laws existing as they did, we would be unable to take our brand back [from the distributor].”
The proposed bill addresses these concerns. Breweries producing less than 50,000 barrels annually or contributing to less than three percent of a distributor’s franchise value would be required to draft contracts laying out the terms of termination. Only four Vermont breweries produce more than this amount: Long Trail, Otter Creek, Harpoon and Mad Hat. Moves to increase the scope of the law were quickly dismissed since doing so would tip the balance too far towards the brands, reintroducing the fears of the early wholesalers.
“It’s essentially just allowing us to leave a contract if it’s not working for us,” described Avery Schwenk, president of the Vermont Brewers Association, to the VTDigger.
But some are concerned that the changes jeopardize a dynamic that has proven to be successful over the past several decades. The craft beer industry in Vermont leads the country, producing around 17.4 gallons of beer per adult resident, according to the Vermont Brewers Association. Its total economic output is estimated to be around $376.7 million, higher than the state’s maple syrup industry or its ski resorts. This explosive growth was fueled in part by the ability of small brewers to use the extensive distribution networks established by large wholesalers.
“We reach all corners of the state. We’re able to penetrate that market much more deeply than individual brewers can,” said Todd Bouton, General Manager at Farrell Distributing, one of the state’s four major distributors.
Companies like Farrell pay a significant share of marketing and logistics costs, as well as absorb unanticipated expenses such as spoiled beer. Because of these substantial investments, distributing craft beer take years to turn profitable. If the changes go through, they may be less likely to accept these early costs, leading to fewer or weaker investments in new craft brewers.
Nevertheless, both parties are hopeful that the bill will not substantially alter their business operations. They’re convinced that longstanding relationships between the layers will continue, with little visible change for consumers.
(04/04/18 8:25pm)
COLLEGE RELEASES CLASS OF 2022 DECISIONS
The college accepted 17.2 percent of its regular decision applicants for the class of 2022. Decisions were released March 27 and offered admission to 1,297 students from a pool of 9,230 total applicants. This is the largest number of applicants in the college’s history and includes a record number of international and domestic students of color.
These accepted students will join the 399 admitted through Middlebury’s early decision processes in December and February. The total 1,696 students represent a slight drop from the 1,753 students accepted last year to the class of 2021. Factoring in early decision admissions, this year’s overall acceptance rate was 18.4 percent, compared with last year’s acceptance rate of 19.7 percent.
Students accepted to the class of 2022 hail from 71 countries and all 50 states, most commonly New York, California, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Illinois. Middlebury plans to award around $13.5 million in need-based financial aid to 45 percent of the class. The $1 million increase in aid from last year’s allocation of $12.5 million will boost the number of incoming students the College expects to assist by 5 percent.
According to a press release, the college hopes to enroll approximately 610 students in September 2018, followed by 100 in February 2019. The projected class size of about 710 for the classes of 2022 and 2022.5 is consistent with that of previous years. Last year’s combined enrollment of 751 for the classes of 2021 and 2021.5 was larger than expected.
Admitted students are invited to come to campus and learn more about Middlebury during preview days from April 16 to 18.
Regular decision applicants have until May 1 to accept Middlebury’s offer. - Nicole Pollack
PATTON & SGA TO HOST DINNERS WITH STUDENTS
The college’s Senior Leadership Group and Student Government Association will cohost two dinners with President Laurie L. Patton as part of their Common Agenda. The dinners, which are open to students, will be held on Thursday, April 12 and Monday, April 16 at 6:00 p.m. in Redfield Proctor.
Seating is limited to 100 per dinner and students are asked to bring food from Proctor up to the Redfield Room prior to the discussion.
“The goal is transparency and fostering a stronger sense of the shared work,” said Baishakhi Taylor, the dean of students and interim vice president for academic affairs.
Students can sign up for the dinner at go/pattonconversation. At that go/link, students can also submit topics and questions they would like Patton to discuss and answer. A group of students will sort through the most common suggestions beforehand.
Patton will begin each discussion with comments on the topics submitted. Then members of the Commons and Dean of Students Office teams will facilitate discussions about those topics.
Questions can be sent to sga@middlebury.edu or dos@middlebury.edu. - Will DiGravio
STARBUCKS COFFEE COMES TO WILSON CAFE
Dining services introduced Starbucks coffee to Wilson Cafe over spring break. Starbucks replaced Vermont Coffee Company, which is located in Middlebury. Vermont Coffee Company will continue to supply coffee to Midd Express, Crossroads Cafe, and the dining halls.
The addition is part of the college’s ongoing initiative to improve the retail food locations on campus. As reported in the last issue of The Campus, the college is reinvesting money saved from the swipe system back into other on campus dining options. Students are able to purchase Starbucks coffee with the $25 declining balance they receive on their ID card each semester.
The Campus spoke with students about the implementation. It is still unclear how students will respond to the changes, though many students are excited by the change. But, three students regretted the fact that the college would be moving away from a locally owned company in favor of a national brand. - Elaine Velie
(04/04/18 2:19pm)
In case you do not know who I am, my name is Julio Tlachi. I am a guy who likes to “keep it real,” so that is what I will do. I am a first-year student who identifies as Latino/Hispanic. I have learned that being a person of color on this campus is not easy. There is no doubt that Middlebury is a predominately white institution, so I quickly came to recognize the importance of the cultural organizations on campus.
Like many of the students at Middlebury, I naturally became part of a friend group that is similar to me. This means that the majority of my friends are also people of color. We share many similar cultural experiences and interests even though most of us are from different places. They remind me of my community back home in Queens, New York City. My friend group here at Middlebury has become crucial to calling Middlebury my home. The more time I spend on this campus, the more I realize the importance of space, quite literally. With this in mind, I decided to write this op-ed piece to explore the possibility of proposing affinity housing for Middlebury’s students of color. I want to be explicit in saying that I wrote this op-ed to gauge whether or not this is something the students of color would be interested in.
According to Middlebury’s Fall 2017 Student Profile (Figure 1), there are currently about 633 (24.7 percent) Domestic U.S. Students of Color on campus. To break this statistic down further, there are 245 (9.6 percent) students who identify as Hispanic/Latino, 105 (4.1 percent) students who identify as Black/African American and 162 (6.3 percent) students who identify as Asian American. It is important to note that this statistic refers to domestic U.S. students, and does not refer to the 278 (10.9 percent) students who identify as international. All in all, there are 633 domestic U.S. students of color out of the 2561 students on campus, yet there only two buildings dedicated to POC: Carr Hall and PALANA.
Just in case you do not know, Carr Hall comprises the Anderson Freeman Center (AFC) and the Center for the Comparative Study of Race and Ethnicity (CCSRE). According to Middlebury’s website, both are essentially geared towards “the advocacy, programs, resources, and support for students who have been historically underrepresented or marginalized in U.S. higher education.” PALANA is a cultural interest house, which houses students identifying as either Pan-African, Latino, Asian and/or Native American. It is also open to anyone who is interested in learning more about race and culture. Yet, PALANA only has eight spaces available each year to the possible 2561 students.
It just seems to me that people of color who make up almost a quarter of the student body here at Middlebury are often piled up in Carr Hall and have to compete for spaces like PALANA. Let’s just look at PALANA. Again, it seems that people of color always get clustered up because PALANA stands for so many cultures and races, and it only has such a limited amount of room. Why is it that anyone considered “other” is more often than not put into these two spaces? Why is it that people of color are “sprinkled” throughout the dorms? Why can’t we have the option to live in a Latinx house, or Black student house, or any sort of culturally affiliated house? Middlebury should look at schools like Carleton College, which also happens to be a small, private college that offers a liberal arts education.
With a smaller student body and smaller endowment, Carleton College offers its student body more opportunity to live in such communities. According to their website, Carleton College has three culturally affiliated dormitories all intended to support their students of color. They have the Asia House, “[which] provides support to Asian and Asian American students and their allies at Carleton College. Educational and social programs aimed towards the understanding of Asian and Asian American cultures and issues are held throughout the year.” They have the Freedom House, “[which] provides a culturally safe space for students of African Diaspora and their allies at Carleton College, and contributes to the environment that facilitates their success. Freedom House residents provide a variety of educational, cultural, and social program.” Lastly they have La Casa de Sol, “[which] is a house designed to serve both the Latin@ community at Carleton College, as well as their allies and the larger Carleton and local Northfield community, through educational and cultural programming. La Casa is an integral part of the Latin@ community at Carleton because it encourages academic success and community development.” All three housing options are designed to be safe spaces, create communities and create social programming for the rest of the campus. Imagine this at Middlebury, where over 600 students identify as students of color.
I believe Middlebury, which takes pride in community, does not give its culture orgs and students of color the space and resources to strengthen their support, community and outreach on campus. That is why cultural affinity housing could be an alternative solution. These culturally affiliated houses would give each underrepresented culture the space to flourish and make its presence known on campus. They could become the headquarters for the cultural organizations on campus. They could become spaces for Middlebury’s students of color, in which those students feel fully supported. I see culturally affiliated housing as a way for Middlebury to provide space, support and opportunity for its students of color. This op-ed is meant to to be a conversation starter, but hopefully it will not end there. So please feel free to reach out to me to continue exploring this possibility: jtlachi@middlebury.edu. Thank you.
(04/04/18 9:00am)
The women’s tennis team entered its spring break trip with a 3–0 record after dominating its first three opponents, defeating Tufts 6–3, Colby 9–0, and St. Lawrence 9–0. After continuing its undefeated run in its first three matches in California, No. 5 Middlebury lost for the first time in a 7–2 defeat to No. 3 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (CMS) on Friday, March 30. But the Panthers rebounded against their former coach, Mike Morgan, and his new team, No. 7 Pomona-Pitzer, with a 7–2 victory on Saturday, March 31, to end the West Coast swing on a high note.
They left the Golden State with a 7–1 record and have set their sights on returning to Claremont-Mudd-Scripps this May for the NCAA tournament, confident despite their first loss of the season.
“We are very excited to continue our season and are hoping that we will be back in California for the NCAA national tournament,” said the team’s No. 1, Katy Hughes ’20, after returning to campus.
A return to Claremont in May is a long ways off, but Middlebury knows the preparation needed to reach that point comes in every moment up until then, and the Panthers are convinced their spring trip will go a long way to achieving that goal. Heather Boehm ’20, one of Middlebury’s regulars in both the singles and doubles lineups, says that she and her teammates returned to Middlebury “closer than ever,” after using the trip to bond as a team.
“We play our best when we feel connected off the court,” said Boehm, after returning to campus from California. “We have more trust in each other than we have ever had, and have learned how much stronger we are together. Even though it is mostly an individual sport, we cannot win alone.”
On the court in California, Middlebury played outside for the first time in 2018 when they faced off with Grossmont on Sunday, March 25. The Panthers had no problem shutting out the Griffins, surrendering only two of 98 games on their way to a 9–0 victory.
The Panthers next travelled to Azusa Pacific to do battle with Cougars, the No. 13-ranked team in the DII polls, on Monday, March 26. Although Middlebury hails from a lower division, the Panthers came out on top with a 7–2 victory. While the Panthers lost individual matches to the Cougars, one in singles and one in doubles, their 7–2 win came in comfortable fashion.
After off-days Tuesday and Wednesday, Middlebury met up with Westmont at Pomona-Pitzer on Thursday, March 29. The Panthers shut out the Warriors 9–0, including dominant wins from two first-years. Emily Bian ’21 won 6–2, 6–1 in the fifth spot, and Ann Martin Skelly ’21 won 6–0, 6–0 at No. 6.
But the going got much tougher for Middlebury the next day, when the Panthers faced off with CMS, who is ranked third nationally. The Athenas entered Friday’s matchup with a 16–2 record, and their only losses came against the reigning NCAA champs, Williams, and last year’s runners-up, Emory.
CMS handed Middlebury its first loss of 2018, as the Panthers fell 7–2. Boehm and Maddi Stow ’20 won Middlebury’s only matches, with Boehm sweeping Caroline Cox 6–3, 6–3 in the No. 4 spot and Stow outlasting Jessie Cruz 7–5, 1–6, 10–8 in the sixth slot.
Unlike many of Middlebury’s matches that they won in dominating fashion, every Panther won several games against CMS, even in defeat.
“Even though we lost to Claremont, every match was close, and with a few more points here and there it could have been an entirely different match,” Boehm said with optimism and confidence in her team.
The Panthers needed to get past their first loss of the 2018 campaign quickly, especially because their next opponent provided another tough test. When they faced Pomona-Pitzer the very next day, they not only went up against the No. 7 team in the country, but they also went up against their former coach, Mike Morgan. Morgan left Middlebury before the fall season began to become the head coach at Pomona-Pitzer.
“It was really great to be able to see our former coach Mike Morgan. He is such a wonderful coach and is doing fabulous things at Pomona,” said Hughes. “He made such an impact on not only each of our tennis games, but more importantly on an individual level. The women’s tennis team will forever remember his contribution to shaping our program.”
While this made for a matchup full of emotion, Middlebury got back on track, defeating the Sagehens 7–2 to cap off spring break and return east to jump into Nescac play with a 7–1 record.
Boehm capped off a fantastic week by beating Summer Garrison 6–0, 6–3 at No. 3. She also paired with Christina Puccinelli ’19 to win 8–4 in No. 3 doubles. Boehm was Middlebury’s only player to play singles in all five matches and win in all five. She also did so without losing a single set, playing in the second, third and fourth singles spots.
Boehm believes her success thus far arises from her fitness, which has been a focus for the entire team in practices.
“The key to my success has been my fitness,” said Boehm. “We have really been working on maintaining that first explosive move throughout the entire match by mixing in different sprints during practice throughout the week. Knowing that I can outlast our opponents definitely gives all of us confidence that we can close out our matches.”
Besides her individual success, Boehm has experienced a rapid rise in doubles, after not making the top-four doubles spot in her first year at Middlebury. She and Puccinelli won four of their five doubles matches in the third spot on the spring trip, and are 7–1 so far this spring.
“Christina has taught me a lot about strategy and has helped me gain confidence playing in third doubles,” Boehm said.
After their loss to Claremont No. 3 pair, Boehm and Puccinelli know what they “need to buckle down on at practice this week.”
Even with Middlebury’s loss to CMS, Hughes was very pleased with Middlebury’s performance in California.
“I am beyond proud of us all,” Hughes said, who went 3–2 in singles and 3–2 in the first doubles slot, paired Skylar Schossberger ’20, in California. “We have worked so hard this year and to see it come together was truly amazing. Everyone competed so hard and played with such grace and integrity.”
After feeling the sting of defeat against CMS, the Panthers’ minds have turned to the practice courts, where they believe their hopes of avenging their loss lie.
“Although it was a tough loss, we are definitely determined to train harder than we have ever trained before to get to that next level,” said Boehm. “We want to get the W next time if we see Claremont again at NCAAs.”
Now, Middlebury turns to the thick of its Nescac schedule, including a showdown with Williams in Williamstown, Massachusetts, two days from now on Saturday, April 7. The Ephs have won eight of the last 10 NCAA championships, including last season’s. In 2017, Middlebury beat Williams in their regular season match then lost to them twice in the postseason: in the Nescac championship match, and in the NCAA semifinals. After winning 6–3 and losing 5–2 in the first two matchups, the Panthers were one win away from defeating Williams in the NCAA semifinals, holding a 4–1 lead, but lost the last four matches as victory slipped away.
In the print edition, this story stated Middlebury lost to Williams all three times in 2017.
(04/04/18 9:00am)
The men’s tennis team is coming off a bevy of west coast matches, playing seven matches in six days. The Panthers went 5–2 on the week in the Golden State, losing tight contests to DII Azusa Pacific as well as to regional powerhouse Claremont-Mudd-Scripps. Highlighting the trip were two strong wins over No. 12 Pomona-Pitzer and DII UC San Diego.
Take the losses over break with a grain of salt, however. The Panthers are still recovering from injuries to multiple key players and expect to remain in the hunt for a national championship. An injury sustained in the fourth match of the spring, against MIT, has kept out Noah Farrell ’19. Head coach Bob Hansen says that Farrell’s presence is missed.
“He is one of the best players in the country and we missed his presence in both singles and doubles,” Hansen said. In addition to Farrell’s absence this spring, William de Quant ’18 played his first singles match of the season on the last day of the trip against CMS.
De Quant nearly won it, too, losing in three sets to nationally ranked No. 28 Jack Katzman.
De Quant should be able to take something positive out of this first performance of the spring, especially after a strong fall season that saw him make a run to the final of the MIT Fall Invitational, losing in a close three setter to Williams standout Austin Barr.
“I am still pondering what separated us from CMS,” said Hansen, who said he is evaluating “how best to prepare for the many challenges ahead.”
Despite the injuries, coach Hansen remains confident in his team and has no reason other than to expect “a strong effort the rest of the way.”
Though they fell short in a much-anticipated match against No. 6 CMS, simply playing the Stags was good for the Panthers.
“Spring break was an incredible experience with our team,” said assistant coach Andrew Thomson. “There is something about the traveling and competing together as a group on the road which promotes development where we become even more tightly bound together as a group.”
The Panthers do have a lot to be happy about and take away from the trip. Nate Eazor ’21 had a successful day against the 14th ranked Division II team Azusa Pacific, winning two straight tie breakers at the No. 5 spot to win 7–6 (7–5), 7–6 (7–5). Eazor also teamed up with fellow first-year Andre Xiao ’21 in doubles to win 8–5. Xiao and as well as Lubomir Cuba ’19 both suffered their first loss of the spring in close fashion. The rest of the matches saw Azusa handle the Panthers in a relatively dominant manner in both singles and doubles.
After some time off from competition, the Panthers found themselves in Claremont two days later and put their first lost behind them, beating UC Santa Cruz 5–4.
Cuba and Kyle Schlanger ’18 kept up their near perfect doubles campaign to earn the sole doubles point for the Panthers in a dominant 8–2 win.
Cuba continued his hot streak in singles, coming back from a first set loss to overcome Santa Cruz’s Chad Le Duff. While the slugs of Santa Cruz were too much for the Panthers at the No. 2 and No. 3 slots, Middlebury once again demonstrated their incredible depth as they swept positions No. 3–5. In addition to strong straight set wins from Xiao and Eazor, this was highlighted by a comeback by Alex Vanezis ’20 that resulted in a 6–0 win in the third and decisive set. A 9–0 rout of Merrimack, a confident 8–1 win against No. 12 Pomona-Pitzer, and a win against DII UC San Diego gave the Panthers confidence on the warm days leading up to the long-awaited matchup against CMS.
When the CMS match finally rolled around, the Panthers found themselves down early, after only one of the doubles teams turned in a win, coming in the form of de Quant’s return as he teamed up with Eazor in an 8–6 victory. Despite de Quant’s and Eazor’s effort, the early deficit was too steep for the Panthers to overcome.
“Many factors contributed to the difference in scores between us and CMS. First and foremost, they played better than we did,” Hansen said.
Even for an 8–1 loss, it would be entirely inaccurate to say that CMS blew Middlebury out of the water, as four of the six singles matches went to a third set or included a tie-break.
Schlanger had perhaps the tightest match, losing 1–6, 6–2, 7–6 (9–7), and Hansen said he believes Schlanger was right on the cusp of victory.
Despite the final score against CMS and the marginal losses, the coaching staff was quick to rattle of some valuable takeaways from the Panthers’ final match of the trip west, as well as the week as a whole. For one, the Panthers got a feel for the courts at CMS.
“CMS is hosting the NCAA tournament and their courts are quite unique so playing there on Spring Break will serve us well assuming we put together a strong finish to qualify for a nice run [to the NCAA tournament],” said Hansen, who remembers the loss his team suffered to CMS in the semifinals of the same tournament last year in May.
“The loss to CMS provides ample feedback and motivation for us to continue to get better,” Thomson said, “but we remain steadfast in our feeling that if we play to our capability we can compete with anyone in the country. Our job now is to stay humble, stay hungry, and to continue to pour our hearts into each and every practice and match to put ourselves in the best possible position for postseason play.”
Thomson and the team are definitely excited about the next matches against No. 5 Williams and No. 15 Tufts this weekend. With such important conference matchups on the horizon, and more national rankings implications ahead with Williams, who just upset CMS, Thomson said the team can’t afford to miss a beat.
“The Nescac is one of the deepest conferences in DIII,” Thomson said. “Each weekend here on out will provide us with a stringent test that will allow us to measure where we are at and where we still need to improve.”
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Last week the baseball team headed west to Southern California for their annual spring break trip, and finished 5–4, the first time since 2012 the Panthers finished over .500 on the trip.
Middlebury also started its Nescac schedule with a bang, taking the first two games of its series with Williams, including a 20–1 shellacking in the first game, before falling in the final game. The Panthers return to Vermont with a 2–1 record in the conference.
The Panthers kicked it off with a matchup against Chapman University of Orange, California on Saturday, March 24. Though it ended with a tough 5–3 loss, Middlebury showed great resilience in the fourth inning after a difficult start left them facing a five run deficit.
Junior captain Colby Morris ’19 pitched the whole game and, while he struggled at times and let up five runs overall, he managed to rally and strike out five. Getting back on track to finish strong was easy for the Panthers’ ace.
“Physically it was a small adjustment, I just had to throw my changeup down in the zone and not leave it up,” explains Morris, who found that the bigger challenge was the mental side. “Mentally it was more challenging. I’m from San Diego so I had a lot of family at the game rooting for me and in past years I might’ve folded but I’ve been playing for them recently and more for my teammates. They definitely helped me flush that bad pitch and move on to the next few innings and give us a chance to win even though we couldn’t pull it out.”
Hayden Smith ’20, Justin Han ’20 and Sam Graf ’19 each crossed the plate for the Panthers, pushed across by RBIs off the bats of Kevin Woodring ’20, Alan Guild ’20 and Han.
Next up, Middlebury faced both the Claremont McKenna Stags and the Pomona-Pitzer Sagehens on Sunday, March 25. The Panthers started the day with a 10–8 win against the Stags, getting an early lead with a sacrifice fly out from Han to bring Brooks Carroll ’20 home in the first inning, followed by a run from Jack Miller ’21 off a hit from Han in the third.
Middlebury continued to get runs across to rack up their run total in the fourth inning with a critical home run from Phil Bernstein ’19, driving in Grant Elgarten ’20 and Graf to make it 5–0. This was Bernstein’s first home run at the college level, a feat made all-the-more special by hitting it in his hometown.
“It was awesome,” said an excited Bernstein. “My parents were there and it made it that much more special. I knew I hit it well but didn’t realize how far I hit it. I remember seeing the umpire giving the ‘homerun’ sign rounding first base and just having an insane rush of adrenaline. My teammates showed me lots of love coming back into the dugout. It felt great.”
Following Bernstein’s hit, the game took an interesting turn in the eighth inning when the Stags made a comeback to tie it up at six, but ultimately the Panthers pulled through to put four more on the board with scores from Han, Woodring, Smith and Henry Strmecki ’21.
Will Oppenheim ’21 proved his skills on the mound, pitching for five innings for the Panthers, only giving up three hits while striking out six. Also notable was the performance of Han, who went 3-for-4 in the game with three RBIs.
Sunday ended in a tough loss against the Pomona-Pitzer Sagehens. Neither team scored until the eighth when Pomona got four runs on four hits.
Middlebury stayed in the game, scoring two runs in the ninth, but it wasn’t enough and the game ended in a 4–2 loss.
However, Middlebury was not without success against the Sagehens. Colin Waters ’19 threw seven scoreless innings in which he gave up only three hits and two walks, striking out four.. Additionally, Han and Strmecki each finished with a 2-for-3 performance at the plate.
Furthermore, Middlebury proved not to be held down by these losses and went on to win their next two games against Whittier College and Caltech.
The Panthers needed 10 innings to dispatch the Whittier Poets on Monday, March 26. After three scoreless innings, Middlebury managed to get a run on the board in the fourth. After Han reached on a fielder’s choice which moved Smith to third, the Panthers executed perfectly a first-and-third situation, confusing the Poets’ defense as Han stole second and Smith scored on a double steal.
In the following inning, the Panthers scored three runs on four hits for a 4–0 advantage. Whittier answered in the fifth, however, with two-run homer to make it a 4–2 game and ultimately tying it up 4–4 in the eighth. Staying at 4–4 throughout the ninth, the teams were pushed into an exciting extra inning.
Carroll started the tenth inning off with a bang, hitting a solo homer -- his first of the season, but likely not his last, considering he hit three home runs last season and has already tallied five RBIs and thirteen hits to account for a .277 batting average and .379 on-base percentage so far this year. Throughout the obvious early success, he has remained humble. “My personal goal is to continue contributing to the team’s success both on and off the field,” says Carroll.
Han went on to seal the deal, taking advantage of a fielding error to get home. The Poets failed to answer, resulting in a 6-4 victory for the Panthers.
Smith’s batting skills were highlighted as he went 3-for-5 at the plate with two RBI and two runs score. Middlebury’s depth was on display against Whittier, as six other players had hits as well.
Middlebury went on to beat the Caltech Beavers 8–5 on Tuesday, March 27th in a back-and-forth game. Caltech scored four runs in the first two innings to Middlebury’s zero, but the Panthers answered with three runs on three hits in the third, making it a 4–3 game. Han had a single to bring home Senior Captain Sebastian Sanchez ‘18 and Carroll, while Graf singled to drive in Han. Hamilton Evans ‘20 belted a two-out homer — also his first home run at the collegiate level — to left center in the fourth to tie the game at 4–4. Caltech managed to get another run in in the bottom of the inning on an RBI single, but Middlebury regained the lead with a run from Smith. The Panthers scored three more with runs from Carroll, Han and Elgarten in the seventh inning to give them an 8–5 lead. Caltech was contained offensively for the last two innings, resulting in a strong win for the Panthers.
Of note is Han, who went 2-for-4 with two runs scored and two RBI against Caltech, and again the team’s depth was easily displayed, as seven other Panthers had one or more hits.
Though pulling off wins against Whittier and Caltech, the Panthers suffered a loss against the then 10th NCAA ranked Redlands bulldogs on Wednesday, Mar. 28. Middlebury had the first run of the game in the third inning when Andrew Hennings ‘20 scored on a sacrifice fly to left field from Carroll. The Bulldogs responded strongly with two runs in the bottom of the inning and then two more in the fifth, leaving the final score at 4-1.
Pitcher Justin Legowski ‘19 took a tough loss on the mound, allowing four runs and five hits over five innings of work. Legowski acknowledged this, saying “We made a few mistakes which good teams like Redlands will make you pay for. If you leave the ball up in the zone to good hitters, they will will hit it.” Yet, he knew what changes needed to be made and saw the Redlands matchup as an opportunity to grow and come back stronger. “Moving forward, and in order to bounce back, we have to keep the ball down in the zone from a pitching standpoint,” says Legowski. “We use this to motivate us, and we enjoy the challenge of competing with these more experienced teams to begin our season. We gain confidence as we work through the early-season rust to compete with, and beat, some very strong teams,” an experience he feels will be invaluable looking ahead to more division matchups.
Like Legowski, the team is overall proud of their performance against these tough out-of-conference competitors, despite the mixed bag of results.
“The California teams are obviously going to be more polished than teams like us because they start playing the first week of February. That being said, they’re very good teams, and opening our season with stiff competition challenged us from the get-go. It was a great way to see who on our team is a true competitor,” Smith commented.
After a well-deserved day off, the rejuvenated Panthers came back from their loss on Wednesday ready to take on their first Nescac opponents of the season: Williams.
Middlebury pulled off a season-high of 20 runs in the first game of three against the Ephs. They also limited their opponents to just one score. The last time the Panthers pulled of 20 runs was in their victory against Hamilton, which ended 20-8 in 2010. Furthermore, the Panthers scored in seven different innings and collected a season-best 19 hits.
Their success started early, scoring six runs in the bottom of the first inning with the help of key plays from Woodring, Carroll, Bernstein and Elgarten. Williams’ only run came during the top of the second inning. Many of the Panthers had the chance to show their stuff, as Hennings, Graf, Smith, Han, Andrew Corcoran ’18, and Strmecki, among others, all played vital roles in Middlebury’s offensive success.
On the mound, Morris improved to 2–2 on the season, giving up only one run on four hits in seven innings. Andrew Martinson ‘20 and Evan Stewart ‘21 stepped up to the plate as well as relief pitchers, both throwing scoreless innings.
Saturday, March 31, took a different turn for the team in their double-header against Williams, ending the day with a split.
The Panthers began the day with a 6–1 win over the Ephs. Williams quickly scored the first run of the game in the top of the first inning until Middlebury was able to hold them and take the lead in the fourth inning with a pair of runs by Smith and Guild with two outs. The Panthers tacked on four more runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to put their total for the game at six. Graf went 2-for-2 with two RBIs and Han had two hits with a run scored.
Defensively, Will Oppenheim ‘21 picked up his first collegiate victoring, throwing 5.1 innings during which he allowed only one run on five hits with four strikeouts. Additionally, George Goldstein ‘21 retired all five batters he faced for his second showing on the mound.
Legowski praises the performance of the team’s first-years.
“Our first-year guys did an awesome job all week,” Legowski said. “Coming in as first-year guy, and trying to understand your role and where you fit into the puzzle can be challenging. However, they were more than prepared and were a big reason as to why we won the series.”
Game two of the double header, however, ended on a different note as the Panthers suffered an unexpected loss against Williams. Though Middlebury first took the lead, scoring three runs in the first two innings, Williams answered with three runs in the third inning to tie the game. The score remained 3–3 until the seventh inning, when the Ephs added on two more, bringing the game to its final score of 5–3.
The dramatic shift in the final scores from the first game to the last was certainly on the Panthers’ minds coming out of the series. “I think that we got a bit complacent after winning the first two games,” says Carroll. “We came out flat which allowed them to stay in the game and come out on top.”
Despite this, Carroll remains optimistic.
“We won the series against Williams two games to one and that puts us in a great position as we head into our second series of conference games against Wesleyan this weekend. We showed in California that we are ready to compete for a playoff spot and I really like where we stand in relation to other Nescac teams.”
This positivity is certainly echoed by fellow teammates. “We feel very confident going into our conference matchups,” says Smith. “We have some freshmen stepping into key roles, and our bats our hot. I’m very excited about our potential in these upcoming conference games.”
The Panthers will next face Wesleyan in a three game conference series tomorrow and Saturday, April 6 and 7, followed by a game this Sunday, April 8, against Trinity.
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Last season, the women’s lacrosse team’s season ended with an 8–4 loss in the NCAA regional final to The College of New Jersey. So when the Panthers faced the Lions on Tuesday, March 27, they sought revenge, but revenge they could not yet get. The Panthers fell to No. 3 TCNJ 10–6 for their first loss of the season.
Even with their loss to TCNJ, Middlebury (9–1) went 3–1 over spring break and stayed undefeated in the Nescac (5–0) by beating No. 18 Bowdoin 14–4 and No. 6 Amherst 11–9, the second-highest ranked Nescac team in the IWLCA Coaches poll. The Panthers also added a victory over Union in midweek play this past Tuesday by a final score of 16–4.
On the first Saturday of spring break, March 24, the Panthers dismantled No. 18 Bowdoin 14–4 on Kohn Field. A balanced attack led Middlebury to victory as 11 different Panthers scored. Kirsten Murphy ’21 continued her excellent debut season by assisting on five goals, a category she leads Middlebury in with 14.
And once more the Middlebury defense dominated, allowing only four goals on 17 shots. Through 10 games, Middlebury’s opponents have scored 4.8 goals per game, the lowest average in the Nescac by almost two goals.
But after winning each of its previous four games by at least 10 goals, Middlebury came crashing back down to earth at TCNJ on Tuesday, March 27. Tied at three at halftime, the Lions outscored the visiting Panthers 7–3 in the second half to secure a 10–6 victory.
Middlebury surrendered more than five goals for the first time this season and scored a season-low six goals.
“Our loss to TCNJ on Tuesday taught us a valuable lesson,” said team captain Georgia Carroll ’18. “Our team has high standards for our play, and if we talk the talk, we have to walk the walk. The Middlebury team that showed up against TCNJ didn’t deserve to win, and we are grateful to have faced competition that held us accountable for our mistakes.”
Middlebury rebounded two days later, when the Panthers defeated Montclair St. 15–7 in their second and final game in New Jersey over the break — their 15 goals tied a season-high. The reigning Nescac Player of the Year, Hollis Perticone ’18, led another balanced offensive effort with three goals. Nine other Panthers got in on the scoring as well.
In their biggest game of the Nescac season thus far, Middlebury fell behind Amherst 2–0 in the first three minutes of last Saturday’s, March 31, game at Kohn Field. Not to be deterred, the Panthers responded with two goals of their own in the next three minutes from Emily Barnard ’20 and Carroll to knot the game at two just 5:17 into the contest.
After Amherst took a 3–2 lead, the Panthers rattled off five of the next six goals and never trailed again, taking a 7–5 lead into the half.
In the second half, the teams traded goals. Every time the Panthers scored, the Mammoths answered back but could never get any closer than two goals. Middlebury earned an 11–9 win, toppling previously-undefeated Amherst to stay undefeated in the Nescac. The Panthers are one of two undefeated teams remaining in conference play, along with Tufts, whom they will play on the last Saturday of the regular season, April 21.
On Tuesday, April 3, Middlebury beat Union 16–4 in its last non-conference game of the regular season, as 11 Panthers scored goals.
Middlebury will play its second game of its current four-game home stretch when it faces No. 21 Colby at Kohn this Saturday, April 7, at noon. The Mules will enter with a 1–4 Nescac record, but each of their four losses have come by one or two goals. They lost to Amherst by one goal and to Tufts by two goals.
Last season, Colby beat Middlebury twice, in the regular season and in the Nescac semifinals, before the Panthers avenged their losses with a 10–9 win in the second round of the NCAA tournament on Colby’s home turf.
As always, the Panthers have to get up for every game in the Nescac, one of the toughest conferences in DIII women’s lacrosse. Right now, eight of the conference’s 11 teams are ranked in the top 25, including four in the top 10. Even as the Panthers stand at the top of the conference currently, they realize that could change in a second if they fail to play up to their ability.
“We try not to think too much about the standings,” Carroll said. “It’s always anyone’s game, especially in the Nescac.”
As the TCNJ game taught the Panthers, they cannot just show up if they expect to beat the best teams in the nation. Of course, the team has demonstrated it can beat really good teams, even dominate them at times — look no further than their win against No. 6 Amherst and blowouts of No. 18 Bowdoin and No. 14 Wesleyan.
With four ranked opponents still on the horizon in the regular season, the Panthers have an opportunity to prove they belong in the conversation for a national title, improve upon the weaknesses revealed over spring break, and earn the top seed in the Nescac playoffs for the second straight season.
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After a small break, the men’s and women’s track teams are beginning their outdoor season. Over spring break, the team participated in the PNLU Collegiate Invitational on Saturday, March 24 and the California Collegiate Open on Saturday, March 31. Both the men and the women did well in these opening meets. Hard work and dedication early on will definitely lead to success later in the season.
At the PNLU Invitational, the men came in first with a score of 155 in an 11-team field. Headlining the Panthers’ efforts were the usual suspects. Nick Hendrix ’20 captured fifth place in the 100-meter dash with a time of 10.85, and he got second place in the 200-meter dash with a time of 21.54. Jimmy Martinez ’19 also did well in the 200-meter dash with a fifth-place finish and a time of 21.78.
But Martinez left his biggest mark on the 400-meter race when he finished with a time of 47.78 to capture first place, setting a meet and school record in the process. For his record-breaking performance, Martinez was named Nescac Performer of the Week.
Some other notable performances were second- and third-place finishes by Connor Evans ’19 and Harrison Knowlton ’19, respectively, in the 5000-meter run. Evans had a time of 14:50.96, while Knowlton had a time of 14:56.41. Also, Middlebury’s “A” team for the 4x400-meter relay finished with a time of 3:22.13, which netted them second place. The team consisted of Matthew Durst ’21, Tyler Farrell ’18, Kevin Serrao ’18 and Arden Coleman ’20. Taylor Moore ’20 participated in the javelin throw and placed third; he threw 50.55 meters.
Moore and his teammates looked positively at the meet as a whole.
“I definitely can’t complain about my throws this weekend,” Moore said. “I started with a third-place finish at the opening meet, with a great distance given it was my first time throwing outside all year. The snow at Middlebury had kept us inside up to this point, so San Diego was a great opportunity to get outside and get some real training in. The second meet I had a great day. I actually threw my farthest throw ever, a personal record of 174 feet, which was good enough for a fifth place finish. I’m excited to keep it going through the rest of the season.”
“I think we did an incredible job at our meets this trip,” said Moore. “The men’s team won our first meet at Point Loma, which included two big Nescac rivals, Tufts and Williams. Really set the tone going into training that week and set us up well for the second meet of the trip, hosted by UC San Diego. We did not place as well at this meet due to a combo of better competition and being sore from all the training. That meet had athletes from USC, Louisville, and Wisconsin. [It] was great to see athletes from a higher level compete — it helped us push ourselves.”
The women’s team also performed well at the PNLU Invitational, where they came in second with a score of 114 in a total field of thirteen teams. The first-place team was Point Loma, with a score of 197.
The women did extremely well in the 1500-meter run with three top-10 finishers. Katie Glew ’21 finished second with a time of 4:38.50. Abigail Nadler ’19 and Read Allen ’18 finished in eighth and ninth place with times of 4:45.37 and 4:47.38, respectively. Kate MacCary ’19 had a great-first place finish in the 5000-meter run with a time of 17:13.03. The 4x100m and the 4x400m relay teams both had impressive outings, with times of 49.32 and 4:00.28, respectively, both good for fourth place. The 4x100m relay team consisted of Ellie Greenberg ’20, Kate Holly ’21, Alex Cook ’20 and Lizzie Walkes ’20. The 4x400m relay team comprised Kate McCluskey ’18, Lucy Lang ’19, Anna Willig ’20, and Holly. There were two top-five finishers in the javelin throw. Julia Lothrop ’19 finished in third with a throw of 37.65 meters and was followed by Helene Rowland ’20, whose 35.75-meter throw got her fourth place.
At the California Collegiate Open, the Panthers faced some of the toughest competition they will see this year. The men’s side still managed to finish seventh with a team score of 67. The first-place team was UC San Diego, with a score of 163.5.
At the California Open, the men’s 4x100m relay team finished in fifth place with a time of 43:13. The team consisted of Jackson Bock ’19, Jackson Barnett ’18, Joshua Howard ’19, and Hendrix. In the 800-meter run, Serrao got a time of 1:51.96 to receive second place, and James Mulliken ’18 got a time of 1:53.74 to receive fourth place. Jon Perlman ’19 and Will Meyer ’20 did very well in the 1500-meter run, capturing second and third place, respectively. Perlman had a time of 4:00.09, and Meyer had a time of 4:00.36. There were also three scorers in the 3000-meter steeplechase. These were Theo Henderson ’20 in fifth place, Ascencion Aispuro ’18 in sixth place and Thomas Tarantino ’21 in eighth place.
The women’s squad also found success at the California Open despite the top-notch competition, as they finished in fifth with 46 points. Wisconsin took the top spot in the meet with a score of 179.
McCluskey showed her skill by coming in first in the 400-meter run with a time of 56.18 and by breaking a school record with a time of 25.61 in the 200-meter dash. Willig dominated the 800-meter run by finishing first with a time of 2:12.73. In the 1500-meter race, Nadler placed third with a time of 4:39.16. MacCary and Allen placed sixth and seventh, respectively, with times of 4:45.19 and 4:46.10.
These two meets were great ways to start the season for the track team, and they all look forward to getting started with the outdoor season.
“The team is super excited heading into the outdoor season,” Moore said. “It goes by pretty quick with meets every weekend until the Nescac Championships like a month out. I think we have a good chance at winning it all — we were able to beat Tufts and Williams the first time around, and with our volume of training and positive energy I think we can do it. Go Panthers!”
Hopefully more success will follow. The team will be back in action on Saturday, April 7, when they head south down I-91 toward Amherst, Massachusetts, where they will take part in the Amherst Spring Fling.
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For the second straight season, the men’s lacrosse team has fallen into an early hole in the Nescac with a 1–4 record in the conference. The Panthers lost all three of their games over spring break, including a 17–8 defeat at Bowdoin on Saturday, March 24, 12–7 at No. 8 Denison on Tuesday, March 27, and 18–11 at home against Amherst on Saturday, March 31.
But, tied for eighth place halfway through the Nescac schedule, Middlebury still has time to gain ground in the standings, especially with an easier schedule on the horizon. Middlebury plays Colby, who is tied with Middlebury in eighth, and Trinity, who is winless in the Nescac, in its next three conference games. The team played Trinity yesterday, on Wednesday, April 4, after this paper went to print. Thus far, Middlebury has played four of the top six Nescac teams and only one of the bottom five.
Middlebury’s recent difficult stretch of games should reap benefits in the long run by helping the team improve, as team captain Henry Riehl ’18 pointed out.
“We have a lot to work on, but we took a step in the right direction with our teamwork,” said Riehl, optimistic Middlebury could turn its season around in the second half.
On the first Saturday of spring break, March 24, the Panthers travelled to Brunswick, Maine to take on Bowdoin. The first quarter ended in a stalemate, 4–4. Panther attacker A.J. Kucinski ’20 scored a brace, and Danny Jacobs ’20 and Chase Goree ’20 added goals as well.
But the Panthers did not continue their high-volume attack, as they scored only four in the remaining three quarters. The Polar Bears managed to score a total of 11 goals during the middle quarters to put Middlebury away.
From Maine, the Panthers travelled to Granville, Ohio, to take on the Denison Big Red the next Tuesday. Similar to the Bowdoin matchup, both teams came out strong in the first quarter, and the game was tied at three after the first 15 minutes.
The Panthers managed to regain the lead after a goal from Riehl a little over a minute into the second quarter. But then the momentum shifted in favor of the Big Red.
Denison rattled off six consecutive goals to give them a 9–4 edge late in the third until Riehl answered back with his third goal of the game. Parker Lawlor ’18 found the back of the net with half a minute left in the quarter.
The Panthers cut Denison’s lead to three, 10–7, after Kucinski assisted Goree roughly five minutes into the fourth. But Denison ended any hopes of a comeback by scoring the game’s last two goals to secure a 12–7 victory.
“Denison was a great opponent. They executed their game plan very well,” said Riehl. “We struggled in the second half.”
Indeed, the Big Red have been a too great of an opponent for eight of the 10 teams they have played this season. They rank eighth nationally.
Heading back to Middlebury to host Amherst last Saturday, March 31, the Panthers hung with the Mammoths in the first half, as they were tied 8–8 at the halfway point. But the Panthers were held to just three over the final 30 minutes. Once more, they could not play with their opponents for the full 60 minutes. Amherst outscored Middlebury 10–3 in the second half to win 18–11, giving the Panthers their third straight loss overall and fourth straight in the Nescac — a frustrating end to their spring break slate.
“While the Amherst game was very frustrating, we played our most complete game,” Riehl said. “Despite the loss, we are confident about our performance against a great Amherst team, and we understand what we need to work on day in and day out.”
Even with an easier stretch coming up, the Panthers cannot afford to take any of their next matchups lightly. Not only do they need to win to earn a spot in the Nescac playoffs, but they also need to build some momentum if they want to make any noise in the playoffs.
“Every Nescac opponent presents a challenge,” Riehl affirmed. “We’ll continue to treat every opponent equally and prepare to play each Nescac team to the best of our ability.”
If selections for the NCAA tournament were made right now, Middlebury would almost certainly not be in the field. To earn an at-large bid, the Panthers will need to surge in the second half of the season. Or Middlebury can earn a spot in the field by winning the Nescac tournament. Either way, they learn from these losses to get better over their final seven regular-season games.
Despite Middlebury’s slump, DIII coaches still hold the Panthers in fairly high regard in the national landscape. In the latest USILA Coaches poll, Middlebury earned votes, placing them within the top 30 teams in the nation.
The Panthers will travel to Waterville, Maine, this Saturday, April 7, to take on the Colby Mules.
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The Panther softball team entered their season as a small, close-knit team looking to win. Throughout their training trip over spring break, the squad hit the field and successfully put a few wins under their belts. After a promising 6–4 spring break trip, the Panthers are excited for the season ahead.
Middlebury started off strong, winning their first two games against Allegheny and Thomas College in Clermont, Florida, to open the season. Both games were characterized by valiant effort from the Panthers. The opener against Allegheny was a back-and-forth affair until the seventh inning, when Liza Tarr ’19’s double sent senior captain Allison Quigley ’18 home, sealing the team’s first win of the season in walk-off fashion, 4–3.
In their second game, the Panthers showed their resilience, which will be key for future success throughout the season, especially given their small roster. Down 5–0 entering the bottom of the seventh, Middlebury came back, guns blazing, to win.
The Panthers cut into the deficit in the bottom of the seventh, where a four-run inning got them squarely back into the game. Their efforts were spearheaded by a pair of first-years, Emily Moore ’21 and Kaylee Gumm ’21. Moore had a 2-RBI triple down the left-field line that brought in Tarr and Taylor Gardner ’18, and then Gumm brought Moore home with a two-run blast to center, making the score 5–4. In the fifth inning the Panthers added four more runs behind a pair of doubles from Tarr and Kati Daczkowski ’18.
Senior captain Gardner put the squad on her back at times during the first two games. Her sacrifice bunt against Allegheny enabled the Panthers to eke out a win, while she went 2-for-3 with a double against Thomas. The captain believes the team’s early success will be important for the season ahead.
“We had great team chemistry and determination to win. We competed against really good teams, which will be awesome going into our Nescac weekends,” Gardner said.
A series of wins and losses came after the first two games. Some highlights included a huge win over Juniata College, where the Panthers came out on top, 6–3. The game emphasized the Panthers’ strength at the plate. Gardner, Tarr, Daczkowski and Emily Moore ’21 each had a hand in the Panthers’ offensive success.
In addition to the Panthers’ offense, Quigley and first-year Emily Morris ’21 had key pitching efforts for the squad. Though the Panthers saw success offensively in the earlier games, the team is hoping to work on execution to assist their dominant defense, led by Quigley’s and Morris’s presence on the rubber.
“Our pitchers and catchers worked really well together,” captain Ali Della Volpe ’18 said. “We need to execute our offense earlier on in games, and especially when we have runners on base.”
Though the Panthers fell to four teams throughout the break, they held strong performances on the field and in the batting cage. Their six wins against Allegheny, Thomas, Juniata, Mount Mary, Buffalo State, and D’Youville showed the strength of the Panther squad. After this trip, the team knows what it needs to do to win.
“We remained really cohesive throughout [the games] and were resilient against tougher teams,” Daczkowski said. “We have a lot of people in new positions, so we just need to work out the kinks by Nescac play.”
The next thing the team is looking forward to, Daczkowski said, is “winning.”
The captains are excited for what lies ahead. The team’s games in Florida were a testament to the next step in the season, and the squad is looking past their losses and working to ensure a successful season.
“Our team was disappointed that we did not walk away with a few more wins, but we learned that we can definitely compete with any team,” Della Volpe said. “We saw what our group can do this year, and we feel confident going into Nescac play.”
After a midweek doubleheader yesterday, Wednesday, April 3, at Plattsburgh, the Panthers will be back in action starting tomorrow in Amherst, Massachusetts, where they will start a three-game series with the 12th-ranked Mammoths.
(03/22/18 12:54am)
Who: Sufjan Stevens, firstly. Secondly, John Wayne Gacy Jr., Carl Sandburg, Mary Todd Lincoln, Louis Armstrong and more people throughout the history of Illinois. And thirdly, me, trying to piece together playlists inspired by each song Sufjan has made and the history that influenced them.
What: A week-by-week aural exploration of the myths of the State of Illinois as they are written by Sufjan Stevens and the people who inspired him. Each week, I will be focusing on one song from the album “Illinoise” in chronological order and trying to make a playlist that is marginally related to the historical content or musical style of each song. Themes so far have ranged from outer space to colonialism and I hope for the playlists to get even more out there as I progress through the album.
When: Mondays, 3-4 p.m.! My favorite thing about doing a radio show is when people participate by calling in to the station or chatting online at wrmc.middlebury.edu. Some of the best songs that I have played on the show have come from other people and I love it when people listen and help me out.
Where: The DJ booth above Proc. 91.1 FM. Highland, Illinois. Jacksonville. Decatur. Chicago. This is a show that is all about places in time and the reactions that they create. I am really trying to tap into the power that music has to bring you back to a specific moment and place. These songs are capable of evoking that so well and that is why I love this album.
Why: This was the first album that blew my mind. I remember sitting down doing homework in eighth grade and hearing one of the songs play on Pandora, I think it was “Chicago.” Straight after that I went and found the album. I listened to the whole thing straight through and would listen to it for days on end. I thought it was such a beautiful sentiment to try and create a song for a special place that could hold both historical and individual meaning. Plus, I always wished Sufjan had continued his 50 states project and gotten to Tennessee, where I’m from. So, even though this show is still about this one album, it reminds me of the songs that remind me of those places I would drive by every day and the stuff that happened there. It still amazes me that I can be walking across campus here in Vermont and hear a song that takes me back to a moment in a car with friends looking out the window at a specific landscape. I think that kind of music should be celebrated.
Want to be featured? Contact fmurphy@middlebury.edu
(03/21/18 10:38pm)
This past week, the Community Council held a session with Mike Roy, the Dean of the Library. During that time, we discussed two recommendations that the council is currently working toward.
The first recommendation is in regard to the recent transition to an online bookstore, rather than an on-campus bookstore. Many of the issues associated with this new system were highlighted in a Campus editorial article released on Mar. 7th. This included the difficulties the online system created during the add-drop period, and for those who utilize the financial assistance program. These issues had already come up in preliminary discussions which have taken place in the Council sessions. Many of the suggested approaches in the aforementioned article were also posed, such as opening up a similar platform to Amazon Marketplace specifically for Middlebury students, utilizing OpenSource resources and expanding the financial aid program. In the coming weeks, the council will be connecting with various stakeholders to identify possible steps that can be taken. This includes hearing the reasoning for such transition from the bookstore.
Two of the posed suggestions made within the council were enhancing the reserve system, as well as advertising the interlibrary loan system more widely. These were the two points that were focused on during conversations with Mike Roy. Following a valuable discussion about the already constrained library budget, it was understood that the reserve system could not be expanded much further. It also became apparent that this would not necessarily solve the overarching need for newer editions of textbooks. Thus, alternative approaches were raised, such as encouraging the use of OpenSource textbooks, and sharing syllabi ahead of the semester. As for the interlibrary loan system, the Community Council will include provisions in the final recommendation to encourage the library to produce a guide for this useful resource, as well as other forms of acquiring textbooks.
Roy also brought forth information regarding the debate of 24/7 library hours during exam periods. Based on the head-count from last semester’s exam period, library use after 2am was consistently below 25 students. With this information in mind, the Community Council will be joining with the SGA to conduct informal student polling on whether the preference for 24/7 library hours during exam periods is a study-space issue, or resource issue.
All members of the college community are invited and encouraged to gather feedback, brainstorm solutions to a problem, and present their own concerns, questions or recommendations. Please feel free to email the Community Council at ccouncil@middlebury.edu, or attend our meetings on Monday 4:30 p.m. in Axinn 104.
