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(03/20/13 8:55pm)
The Middlebury men’s basketball team advanced to the Elite Eight of the NCAA tournament with a 73-72 win over Ithaca College on Saturday, March 16. Junior guard Joey Kizel ’14 made a pair of free throws with 1.8 seconds remaining in the game to give his team the decisive points. On the final play of regulation, Ithaca’s Travis Warech attempted a desperation heave at the buzzer, but his shot bounced harmlessly off the backboard, cementing Middlebury’s return to Salem, Va., where the Panthers played in the Final Four just two years ago.
Nolan Thompson ’13 and Jake Wolfin ’13 led all scorers with 20 points apiece for the Panthers, as the senior guards combined to shoot 12-20 from beyond the arc.
“[My shot has] been feeling good, but it just wasn’t going in,” said Wolfin, who entered the game shooting 28 percent from beyond the arc. “I got out there and felt confident. It was the biggest game of any of our careers in front of our home fans [and] my last home game. I felt like I needed to have a performance that would take us to the next level.”
Middlebury as a team combined to shoot 15 of 24 from three, including a streak of seven straight to start the second half. Kizel, meanwhile, chipped in 13 points of his own as Middlebury’s trio of starting guards combined to score 53 of the team’s 73 points.
“[The threes] were all good looks,” said Kizel. “It’s all about inside-out. We’re moving the ball really well and getting touches in the paint first, either through [Lynch] or [Roberts] or [Jensen] or by dribble penetration.”
Ithaca opened the game, and played much of the first half in a triangle-and-two defense. Despite limiting the offensive looks for Kizel and Thompson early, the defense conceded open shots for Wolfin. After missing his first attempt of the game, Wolfin knocked down his next three shots, including two threes, as the New Jersey native scored seven of his team’s first 13 points.
“We anticipated that they would play triangle and two and face-guard [Kizel] and [Thompson] and bait [Wolfin] into taking some perimeter shots,” said head coach Jeff Brown. “I was a little concerned when he missed the first, but he made some really big shots for us and got them out of that defense and into man-to-man.”
Behind Wolfin’s early contribution, the Panthers maintained a narrow lead for much of the first half, taking a six-point lead — their largest of the half — with 2:29 remaining in the half. Ithaca ended the half on an 8-4 run, however, as guard Eli Maravich — the nephew of the great “Pistol Pete” Maravich — drained one of his team-high five three-pointers just seconds before the first-half horn sounded to cut the Middlebury lead to two at the break.
Kizel led all scorers at the break with 11 points, while Wolfin and Thompson each had eight and junior swingman James Jensen ’14 contributed seven points off of the bench. Collectively, Middlebury shot a scorching 59 percent from the floor in the first half on 13-22 shooting, while holding Ithaca under 38 percent as a team. The Bombers, however, kept the game close by crashing the offensive glass and limiting their turnovers.
Out of the half-time break, Ithaca took advantage of a slow restart from the Panthers, scoring on each of their first three possessions to take the lead for the first time since the 7:02 mark in the first half. Middlebury responded, however, making seven threes in seven attempts after missing its first four shot attempts in the second half.
The barrage of threes reached its apex at the 11:35 mark, as Thompson sank three treys over a 2:35 stretch, catalyzing a 12-2 Middlebury run and extending the Panther lead to 10, the largest of the game.
Trailing by double digits, Ithaca launched a run of its own, scoring the game’s next eight points as Maravich knocked down a pair of threes to cut the Middlebury lead back to two. Then, after another Wolfin three followed by a pair of free throws from tri-captain Peter Lynch ’13 gave Middlebury a 62-55 lead at the 6:29 mark, the Bombers answered with another mini-run of their own, cutting the deficit back to one with less than five minutes remaining in regulation.
The visitors completed the comeback minutes later as Maravich hit yet another three to give his team a 68-67 lead, completing a 21-10 Bombers run over a period of 9:57 to take the lead with less than two minutes in the game.
The Ithaca advantage was short-lived, however, as Lynch recaptured the lead for the Panthers with a pair of free throws.
After a pair of misses on the other end, Ithaca elected to put Middlebury on the line in the one-and-one rather than allow the Panthers to run the clock below 30 seconds and potentially convert on a shot at the end of the shot clock. Thompson, who entered the game as Middlebury’s best free throw shooter on the season missed the front end off the back rim, resulting in a high-arching rebound, which Jensen tipped in the air once, and then corralled before being fouled.
A year ago, in Middlebury’s Sweet 16 loss to Scranton, Jensen made just two of his 10 free throws, a statistic that loomed large in the Panthers’ three-point loss at the buzzer. Saturday, however, Jensen converted three of his four attempts from the line, including both in the final minute, extending Middlebury’s lead back to three.
On the other end, Ithaca put the ball in the hands of Maravich, who drove to the basket and, with 19 seconds remaining, converted a hanging layup to cut the deficit back to one.
Following a timeout, the Bombers put Thompson on the line once again, and again Thompson missed on the front end of the one-and-one. Off the miss, Ithaca point guard Sean Rossi found his teammate Frank Mitchell who blew by Lynch, and finished at the hoop with six seconds remaining, setting the scene for the final sequence.
“I’m [thinking] ‘just go to the basket,’ said Kizel of the final play. “I was trying to get a layup, but they did a good closing me down. They were a little too aggressive, and I got fouled. I was just trying to make a play and get a shot off, and we were able to.”
“Our philosophy is to push [the ball] and try to make a play,” Brown said, “and Joey Kizel made a great play, drawing that foul and getting to the free throw [line].”
Kizel then stepped to the line with a chance to tie or win the game with 1.8 seconds left.
“When I got to the line I was hoping the first would trickle in, because I knew the second one would go in if I hit the first,” said Kizel of his game-tying and game-winning free throws.
The victory Saturday gave Middlebury’s three seniors 104 career wins, the most in team history. Middlebury will play North Central (Ill.) in the Elite Eight on Friday, March 22, at 7:30 p.m. in the Salem Civic Center. The winner will advance to the Final Four and play the winner of the Amherst-Cabrini game.
A version of this article ran in the Addison Independent on March 18.
(03/14/13 12:39am)
The Middlebury men’s basketball team (24-3) advanced to the Sweet 16 for the third consecutive season after a 67-63 win at Cortland State on Saturday, March 9. The Panthers handed the Red Dragons their first home loss of the season, ousting the 23rd-ranked team nationally in the process.
Junior guard Joey Kizel ’14 controlled the game offensively for the visitors, pacing the Panthers with 11 points in either half, and employing a dazzling array of scoring moves. Kizel, who is averaging 14.2 points per game this season, has been on a tear over the last month, scoring more than 20 points per game in his last five games.
“It’s pretty mental, confidence-wise,” Kizel said of his play of late. “Depending on the way defenses are playing I’ll impact the game — I’m not going to force anything. If I start making shots, it’s going to be very hard for defenses to contain us.”
Middlebury knocked down open shots on the first two possessions of the game — one an 18-foot jump shot from 6’8’’ forward Jack Roberts, the next a long pull-up three-pointer from Kizel.
Cortland, which entered the game 13-0 at Whitney T. Corey Gymnasium this season, gradually found a rhythm offensively, capitalizing on a number of errant, long-range shots from Middlebury early in the shot clock to find passing lanes in transition. Red Dragons’ guard Harrison Hefele was the primary beneficiary of his team’s up-tempo play and good ball movement early on, scoring five consecutive points, including a three from the left wing.
Both teams traded baskets early as the game witnessed six lead changes in the first 8:06 of play. Ten early points from Cortland forward Brian McMahon, including a pair of dunks, spurred the Red Dragons to a 23-17 lead with 8:08 remaining in the first half.
Middlebury then engineered a furious 19-4 run to end the first half, heading into the halftime tunnel with a 36-27 lead as Kizel scored eight points over the final 5:24 of the half.
James Jensen ’14 added nine points of his own in just nine minutes off the bench as the junior swingman consistently attacked the rim offensively while affecting long-range attempts with his length defensively. Jensen notched the first double-double of his Middlebury career, finishing the game with 13 points and 11 rebounds.
“Last year [Jensen] impacted the game in so many different ways, but his shot wasn’t there, and now that’s not holding him back,” Kizel said. His shooting ability has given him a lot of confidence. If teams are giving him an open shot, he wants to knock it down. That makes defenses guard him and respect his shot and then he’s able to drive past them which is definitely a huge strength of his game.”
The Red Dragons struggled to make outside shots despite good looks as guard Jeremy Smith, the team’s leading scorer and a 43-percent, three-point shooter on the season, finished the first half 1-7 from the floor, and 1-4 from beyond the arc. McMahon, however, wreaked havoc in the first half, pulling down eight boards and recording two blocks in addition to his 10 points on five of seven shooting.
Cortland shot just 41 percent as a team in the first half as Middlebury held the hosts to just eight three-point attempts in the first half, far below their 24-attempt pace per game. The Red Dragons also failed to get to the free throw line in the first half, all of which culminated in the nine-point half-time deficit.
For the Panthers, Saturday’s game marked the second straight week that they led by nine or more points at the half, and the second straight week they saw their lead disappear in a matter of minutes.
The hosts opened the second half on a 7-2 run, cutting the Middlebury lead to four. As McMahon scored his team’s first seven points of the second half, giving him 17 points in just 22 minutes of play, while shooting 8-10 from the field.
The Panthers extended the lead back to eight as five different players scored to open the second half. At the 13:20 mark, however, the Red Dragons launched their assault, outscoring Middlebury 17-2 over the next 5:34 to take a 55-48 lead with 8:53 remaining in the game. McMahon and Cortland’s senior point guard Jesse Winter sparked the run, scoring 14 of the team’s 19 points over a 6:02 span.
With his team trailing by seven and less than nine minutes remaining, tri-captain Jake Wolfin ’13 made the seminal play of the game, stepping into a shot at the top of the arc and knocking down a straightaway three off a perfect feed from Kizel. Prior to the make, Wolfin was 0-7 from the floor, but rebounded to sink the game’s decisive shot.
“[Losing by] seven there, if we don’t score on that possession and they score, the game goes in a different direction,” Wolfin said. “Throughout my career I’ve loved to take big shots and my team has had the confidence in me to take those shots. Joey gave me a great pass and I was open and the shot went in and that started a 5-0 spurt for me and a 5-0 spurt for us that was really important in the game.”
Wolfin struck again just over a minute later; after deflecting an entry pass intended for McMahon into the air, he collected the loose ball and took it the ball coast-to-coast, where he finished between a pair of closing Cortland defenders.
“A big focus of our preparation for Cortland State was on the defensive end,” said Wolfin. “On a lot of their sets they swung the ball up to the big guy at the top of the key, so I read the defenders eyes, jumped the pass and was lucky enough to get a deflection and finish the play. I took a gamble on defense and it was a big part of the game so I’m glad it worked out.”
McMahon responded on the Red Dragons’ next possession with another basket in the lane to extend the lead back to four with 6:59 remaining, giving the junior, and the nation’s second-most efficient scorer, 24 points for the game. It was McMahon’s final basket of the game, however, as Middlebury outscored Cortland 14-6 down the stretch.
After tri-captain Nolan Thompson ’13 and Jensen combined to make three of four free throws, Kizel gave Middlebury its first lead since the 11:02 mark, banking an off-balance runner off the glass and in, all the while falling away from the basket.
Now trailing by one, Cortland entered the ball to McMahon. The Panthers collapsed on the 6’6’’ forward, but once again McMahon got the better of them, this time with his passing, as he found a wide-open teammate at the top of the key who buried the three.
Kizel continued to attack the rim, this time drawing contact and earning a trip to the free throw line. The New Jersey native sank the pair to tie the game again at 60. On the ensuing Cortland possession, the Red Dragons had two good looks from three, but neither shot fell, giving Middlebury another chance to take the lead.
This time the Panthers swung the ball around the perimeter and entered the ball into the post with tri-captain Peter Lynch ’13, the team’s leading scorer on the season. While Lynch had been contained for much of the afternoon, on this occasion he pirouetted his way inside and finished over his defender.
On the following possession, Cortland’s shifty guard Jesse Winter slithered past Thompson, but couldn’t convert the layup. On the other end, Kizel drew contact again and sank two more free throws to give his team a 64-60 lead with 49 seconds remaining.
After another missed three from the trailing team, Kizel had an opportunity to ice the game. At the line with 27 seconds to go and leading by four, the 79-percent free throw shooter made only one of two, however. The Red Dragons then responded with a made three from the right wing to cut the Middlebury lead back to two with 17 seconds remaining.
Cortland, desperate for a turnover, forced Middlebury to burn two timeouts before Thompson finally located Lynch on an inbound pass.
With 12 seconds remaining in the game Lynch stepped to the line and drained both free throws, sealing the victory for his team.
“Those were two of the biggest free throws all year,” Kizel said. “Because if he misses one, we’re back in the same situation [up three with seconds remaining] that we were in against Curry, Amherst and Wesleyan. So we’d really prefer not to be in that situation. Up four versus up three is a huge difference.”
“It was our first signature win,” Wolfin said. “For us to [win at] Cortland State where they hadn’t lost all year shows the character of our team — how tough, how gritty we are. We did a great job closing out a team that easily could have made a run in this tournament. It means a lot going forward.”
With the victory Jeff Brown’s team advanced to the Sweet 16 for the third time in the past three years, something only two other schools have accomplished in that time.
The Panthers host Ithaca College (21-8) on Saturday, March 16. A win would advance Middlebury to the Elite Eight and a return to Salem, Va., where the Panthers were a Final Four team in 2011.
(03/07/13 12:59am)
The seventh-ranked men’s basketball team advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament for the fourth consecutive year, escaping with a 68-66 win over Curry College on Saturday March 2. The Panthers’ two-point win marked the third game in the last four that was decided by one possession or overtime.
Middlebury jumped out to a quick 6-0 lead over an out-of-sync Curry, as tri-captain Jake Wolfin ’13 scored all four of his points in the opening 3:03 of play and tri-captain Nolan Thompson ’13 was left all alone for an easy layup. Thompson was then called for two quick fouls, one a moving screen, the other a blocking call on which the NESCAC Defensive Player of the Year appeared to be in perfect defensive position, but was whistled nonetheless. It marked the first time that Thompson has picked up two fouls in the first half of a game this season.
With Thompson on the bench, James Jensen ’14 and Hunter Merryman ’15 provided head coach Jeff Brown with valuable contributions early in the game. After Curry’s 6’5’’, 255-pound forward AJ Stephens cut the Middlebury lead to three, Merryman scored five consecutive points over a 1:32 span, draining a three from the left wing and then cutting to the basket for an easy layup. Stephens, however, kept the visitors in the game, accounting for eight of his team’s first nine points.
The Panthers continued to receive solid bench play as reserve guard Nate Bulluck ’14 scored three straight for Middlebury, sinking one of two free throws before finding himself on the receiving end of a Joey Kizel ’14 pass in transition. The frontcourt then took over for Middlebury as the combination of Peter Lynch ’13, Jack Roberts ’14 and Jensen combined to score the final 11 points of the half for the Panthers.
“We hit a bunch of jump shots early that opened up the inside and allowed us to play inside-outside,” said Lynch. “When I got the ball down low I knew that if I kicked the ball out they were going to hit the shot so it’s a lot harder for the [defense] to play honestly. I think that’s when we’re at our best — when we’re working in and out, and I think we did a very good job of that.”
While Lynch led the team at the half with eight points, the team’s balanced scoring — eight players recorded two or more points in the first half for the Panthers — and defensive effort gave Middlebury a 12-point lead at the half.
Roberts and Jensen, in particular, were stellar on the defensive end, the former blocking three shots and altering numerous others, while the latter held Curry’s leading scorer, Commonwealth Coast College Player of the Year Sedale Jones, to just four points on 1-7 shooting.
“I thought we did a pretty good job on their inside guy as well as on their perimeter scorers,” said Brown. “A big key to the game was the job James Jensen did on Sedale Jones in the first half. James really gave us a lot of energy on the defensive end.”
After holding Curry to just 19 points on 7-27 shooting in the first half, Middlebury looked sluggish to start the second half, as Curry more than doubled its scoring output over the first 8:07 of the second half.
“The biggest thing was that Curry really cranked up the defensive end,” Brown said. “They started to shoot the passing lanes, turned us over, got some easy scores and we really struggled at the start of the second half putting together some offense and they really closed the gap on us,” Brown said.
The outburst began less than a minute-and-a-half into the second half as the Colonels slashed the Panthers’ lead to seven with a 7-2 run. Middlebury’s only basket over that stretch came on a nifty reverse layup by Kizel, who became the third member of the team to reach the 1,000-point mark this season — and the 19th player in program history — after Thompson and Wolfin accomplished the same feat earlier in the year.
Successive layups by Jensen and Roberts extended the team’s lead back to nine, but Curry responded with eight straight points to move within a point of the hosts for the first time since Middlebury’s first-made basket, 26 seconds into the game.
Middlebury never relinquished its lead, staving off multiple attempts by the Colonels as the visitors cut the deficit down to one on five separate occasions but were never able to tie the game, let alone take the lead outright. While only Lynch scored more than five points in the first half, four different Panther players recorded at least six points in the second half as Jensen, Lynch, Thompson and Kizel combined to score the team’s final 31 points of the game.
Kizel led the team with 11 second-half points and continually made plays when the team needed it most, attacking the rim and finishing in the paint or going to the free throw line. With 10:17 remaining, the junior guard from Short Hills, N.J. missed a hanging floater off the backboard, but followed his shot, grabbed the offensive rebound and laid the ball in while getting fouled. The ensuing free throw gave Middlebury a four-point advantage, denying the Colonels an opportunity to take the lead.
“It didn’t seem like we had the energy or the focus that we brought in the first half,” Kizel said. “At [that] point I was trying to do whatever it took to get the team going.”
Stephens, the Colonels’ power forward, kept his team close, however, with a game-high 20 points, 12 of which came in the second half. Using his wide body he backed down the taller Lynch and Roberts, demonstrating great touch in the lane and sinking six of eight shots from the line.
“He’s just a beast,” Lynch said of Stephens. “We were doubling, we were brining help-side defense — we were doing everything. That was a tough matchup.”
Kizel’s playmaking ability, coupled with clutch shooting from Thompson beyond the arc and made free throws down the stretch from the Panthers, proved too much for the Colonels, however.
With Middlebury leading by three with less than four minutes remaining in the game, Roberts plucked a long rebound out of the air following a Kizel miss. The ball made its way back into Kizel’s hands and this time the 6’0’’ guard attacked the lane and, with the defense collapsing around him, found Thompson on the wing for an open three.
“[Thompson]’s just so steady,” said Brown. “He doesn’t get down when he is missing shots, and he sat a big chunk of the first half and came out cold at the start of the second half. But he hit a couple of big shots and gave us that separation we needed.”
Thompson struck again, less than a minute later, as this time Wolfin found him in the corner for a spot-up three, extending the Panthers’ lead to seven. Curry had an answer, however, as guard Lambros Papalambros drained a long three to make it a two-possession game with 1:50 remaining. Following a turnover from Wolfin, Sedale Jones made the first of two free throws to bring Curry within three with 1:22 remaining.
On the second miss, the ball was knocked out to Kizel who found a teammate while being hit from behind. In the confusion, the Panthers held the ball in the backcourt and Kizel, wary of being called for a 10-second violation in the backcourt called timeout.
“Once I had released the ball I was thinking about the shot clock and when I caught the ball with 26 [seconds left on the clock],” said Kizel. “Luckily I saw the shot clock and immediately called the timeout. It turned out to be a pretty big play.”
Coming out of the timeout, the Panthers isolated Kizel who beat his man Papalambros and then cut diagonally through the lane, finishing with his right hand off the window in front of Curry big man John Durkin.
“Once I got into the lane I knew I was going to try to make the play,” Kizel said. “A few minutes before I had kicked the ball to [Thompson] for three so they were more spread out [defensively.] I just saw the lane and took the layup.”
Trailing 63-58 with 1:01 remaining, Curry executed the final minute almost perfectly given their circumstances, taking — and making — the first good shot attempts they had offensively. Jones cut the lead to two, knocking down a long three with Kizel flying at him after Papalambros missed a layup and the long rebound was tipped into his path. Then, after Kizel made a pair of free throws, Papalambros knocked down another jumper halving the deficit to two.
Following a 30-second Curry timeout, Thompson threw a long, baseball pass down the floor to Jensen who alertly avoided being fouled and found the hustling Thompson — the team’s best free-throw shooter, at 82 percent — who was sprinting to the ball. The Akron, Ohio-native was fouled with 11 seconds remaining. Two made free throws would have all but clinched a victory.
Instead, Thompson’s first free throw bounced out before he coolly sank the second. In a scenario eerily similar to Middlebury’s overtime games against Wesleyan and Amherst, the Panthers led by three with seconds remaining.
We [were] prepared to play that situation both ways,” Brown wrote in an email. “A concern that I had at the time was [Curry’s] Stephens getting great position on the foul shot. The time also played into the decision [not to foul].”
The Colonels got a quick shot from three as Antonio Jones got a free look from the right wing. Unlike so many other late-game situations that Middlebury has experienced over the past two seasons, Jones’s shot fell just short, and went through the hands of Stephens out of bounds.
“I thought it was definitely going in just because of all the misfortunes we’ve had in those late game situations,” said Kizel. “But I guess the numbers finally decided to go our way this time.”
The Colonels fouled Lynch who needed to make just one free throw with three seconds left to seal the victory. Lynch made both, providing the Panthers’ with the necessary two-point cushion when Sedale Jones launched a last second shot from half court that banked home.
Lynch led the team with 17 points on 5-10 shooting and Kizel and Thompson each added 13. Jensen, meanwhile, had nine points while playing 25 minutes off the bench as he and Lynch worked in tandem in the post.
“The whole week in practice I just wanted to be more aggressive on the offensive end,” said Jensen. “I was making backdoor cuts, face cuts — I cut on Sedale [Jones] and [Lynch] threw it over the top. We had been doing that all week in practice and hard work pays off.”
The win advanced Middlebury to the second round of the NCAA tournament. The Panthers travel to Cortland State on Saturday, March 9 to play the Red Dragons who have yet to lose on their home floor this season. Middlebury enters the game 11 for its last 48 from beyond the arc, a trend the team will have to correct in order to beat Red Dragons, who shoots 43 percent as a team from distance on their home floor.
(02/27/13 11:32pm)
The fourth-ranked men’s basketball team fell for the third time in less than a month, exiting the NESCAC tournament with an 87-80 overtime loss to the seventh-ranked Ephs of Williams on Saturday Feb. 23. The semifinal game was a rematch of a 64-63 Ephs victory in Williamstown, Mass. a month ago.
Middlebury struggled from the floor early as Williams opened the game in man defense, a tactical change from the 2-3 zone Williams employed the last time the teams met. The switch stymied the Panthers, as the team scored on only two of its first eight offensive possessions.
“I thought they were going right to the 2-3 [zone] because it was so effective the first time [we played],” said tri-captain Peter Lynch ’13. “We prepared for that and got the looks we wanted [in practice], but they came out in man right to start and it wasn’t what we were expecting.”
Middlebury trailed early and often, leading for just 1:13 in the first half as back-to-back buckets from sophomore guard Nate Bulluck ’14 gave his team a pair of brief leads midway through the half. Perhaps sensing the danger of an impending Middlebury run, however, the Ephs outscored their Route 7 rivals 16-8 to end the first half, taking a 37-30 into the break.
Ephs forward Daniel Wohl — who was playing in his first game after an illness that sidelined him for nearly a month — scored 11 first-half points to pace Williams, knocking down three of four three-pointers. Center Michael Mayer and sharp-shooting guard James Klemm added nine and eight points, respectively, for Williams as the NESCAC’s second seed shot 52 percent from the floor and 50 percent from beyond the arc. Middlebury was fortunate to trail by just seven at the break as the team shot just 40.6 percent from the floor and made just two of 10 attempts from beyond the arc.
Tri-captain Peter Lynch ’13 led the way for the Panthers with eight points and six rebounds at the break, while Joey Kizel ’14 had five points. Hunter Merryman ’15 and James Jensen ’14 also pitched in four points apiece of the bench, as the Panther reserves accounted for 12 of the team’s 30 first-half points.
Middlebury re-emerged from the tunnel in the second half with a greater sense of desperation, the team’s mental adjustment at the half sparking an 11-5 run to begin the second period.
“The message at halftime was, ‘This is what we’ve been playing for all year, we need to give it everything we’ve got, because if we lose we’re not playing tomorrow,’” said Lynch. “Coach Brown really got us motivated to come out strong in the second half.”
After a Kizel three-pointer cut the deficit to one, treys from Klemm and point guard Nate Robertson, interrupted by a Jake Wolfin ’13 jumper, extended the Williams lead back to five with 14:30 remaining in the game.
The Panthers responded with a 12-4 burst, bookended by threes from Wolfin and Kizel, propelling them to a four-point lead, their largest of the game, with 10 minutes and change remaining.
The Middlebury lead was short-lived, however, as the Ephs went on a 7-0 blitz coming out of an expedient timeout called by head coach Mike Maker. Taylor Epley, the Ephs’ leading scorer on the season, provided the catalyst for the run with five straight points.
Trailing by three, the Panthers turned to the bruising Lynch, who scored his team’s next six points on three straight possessions, regaining the lead for Middlebury in the process. The game then witnessed six lead changes in less than three minutes as both teams vied unsuccessfully for control of the game.
“I realized that there was a lot of space to attack,” Lynch said. “After the first couple times, [I thought], ‘they have to adjust — there’s no one there.’ But they didn’t.”
With four minutes remaining in regulation, Nolan Thompson ’13 and Woflin missed open looks from beyond the arc on consecutive possessions, snapping a streak of six straight successful offensive possessions for the Panthers.
The Ephs, meanwhile, ran off four straight scores of their own to take a 76-73 lead on an Epley layup with 1:31 remaining.
Coming out of a timeout, the Panthers moved the ball well late in the shot clock, ultimately finding an open look for Wolfin who, despite shooting just 3-13 from the floor up to that point, buried the open look to tie the game at 76 with 58 seconds remaining.
Following a missed layup by the Ephs’ Daniel Wohl, Middlebury had a chance to take the lead, but Robertson picked the pocket of Kizel, as the Panthers’ guard drove to the basket.
“In regulation on that last possession, I had a good look, but I wanted a better look, so I forced it a little bit,” Kizel said. “I thought I had a pull-up long two or a pull-up three, but I saw a lane and thought, ‘maybe I can get to the basket,’ and Robertson made a great play.”
The turnover gave Williams one final chance to win the game, but Robertson momentarily lost his handle on the ball and the Ephs were unable to attempt a final shot before the buzzer, sending the game into overtime.
The overtime period began with a missed three from Wolfin, resulting in a chance to break for Williams. Hoping to start the transition opportunity, Ephs forward John Weinheimer attempted a long outlet pass down the right-hand side of the floor. Anticipating the pass, Kizel intercepted the ball and, while falling out of bands, threw the ball back over his shoulder to a teammate.
“They were pushing the ball hard and I knew he wanted to [throw the ball up court],” Kizel said. “I saw that he was locked in on one guy and I made a quick read and I saw some guys in the backcourt and just threw the ball over my head.”
“He’s just a big game player,” head coach Jeff Brown said. “He wants the ball to make the important play on the offensive end, or hit the important shot. And then defensively, he has a knack for picking his shots. He can make a great contribution, like that steal.”
Despite Kizel’s heroics, Middlebury failed to score on the ensuing offensive possession, and endured a 3:49-long scoring drought over the final minute of regulation and nearly the first three minutes of overtime. Lynch finally put the Panthers on the board in the extra period, pulling down his 11th rebound of the game and scoring his 22nd and 23rd points of the evening to tie the game 78-78 with 2:98 remaining. The two teams traded baskets on their subsequent possessions as Wohl regained the lead for the Ephs with a drive and finish before Kizel deadlocked the game at 80, draining a long jumper.
Williams quickly retook the lead, however, as Jack Roberts ’14 was called for a hold on Mayer, sending Mayer to the line to shoot two free throws, and Roberts to the bench with his fifth and final foul.
Trailing by two, Middlebury had a chance to tie the game with less than a minute to play. Lynch drove the lane, but got caught in the air underneath the basket, attempting to find an open teammate. His pass appeared to hit the padding at the bottom of the backboard after taking a deflection off an Ephs defender. The ball then ricocheted back towards Lynch as he fell out of bounds. In an attempt to ensure his team’s possession, Mayer went after the basketball and attempted to throw it off of Lynch, who was in an out-of-bounds position, before he himself made contact over the end line. The nearest official determined that it was Williams’ ball and, after conferencing as a group, upheld the original call, despite the vehement protests of the Middlebury players and its coaching staff.
The Ephs sealed the game at the free throw line, making seven of 10 free throws in the final 57 seconds to clinch the victory. Middlebury did have one final opportunity to tie the game, but Wolfin’s corner three was off the mark.
Lynch led the way for the Panthers with 23 points on 10-17 shooting and 12 rebounds in what was a career performance in the losing effort.
“Peter was incredible in the paint,” said Brown. “He’s really a handful to guard — his ball quickness, and being able to go both directions off the bounce and his physical play inside really kept us in the game. Every time we needed a bucket, either against their man-to-man or their zone [defense], he produced on the offensive end.”
With the loss Middlebury dropped to seventh in the national rankings, but was awarded a home NCAA tournament game. The Panthers will host Curry College (22-5) on Saturday, March 2. This marks the sixth straight year that coach Brown has led his team to the NCAA tournament, the second longest streak in the country.
(02/27/13 9:47pm)
When I was a senior in high school and deciding where I wanted to go to school, most of my extended family expected me to go to a Division I school where I could experience the culture of big-time college sports. I didn’t know then that I would come to love Division III athletics, but choosing to attend Middlebury rather than say, Ohio State, was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.
The NESCAC, and much of Division III, stands as the final bastion of amateurism in collegiate sports. And if that means that our sports teams, including the Division I ski teams, need to spend a little bit of time advertising their own events, then so be it. Self-promotion is a small price to pay compared to the mess of cheating and cover-ups that has come to define big Division I athletics.
This week, the University of Alabama made headlines for offering a scholarship to an eighth grader. And while the gap between Middlebury athletics and Alabama football is oceanic, “a more aggressive stance championing athletics,” as Caleb Cunningham wrote in a reader op-ed last week, wouldn’t create greater unity among the student body, but further divide athletes and non-athletes on campus.
Now don’t get me wrong, as a Middlebury sports fan, I enjoy it when the community fills the stands at Pepin, or travels en mass to Youngman or Kohn Field. In fact, comparatively, Middlebury athletes enjoy tremendous support from the student body, staff, faculty and the community at large. The men’s basketball team’s average attendance in 13 home games this season is 728, the highest of any NESCAC school. The football team, meanwhile, averaged 1,758 fans at home games this season, compared to 1,139 on the road.
But while the basketball team and football team attract crowds, many teams — the vast majority of which are women’s teams — remain woefully under-supported. This is not Middlebury’s “fanhood problem” rearing its ugly head, but prognostic of a trend in society at large. The softball team averaged just 135 fans in 10 home games last year. They also led the NESCAC in attendance.
Some may argue that while women’s sports are underappreciated and struggle to draw attention everywhere, skiing is a core part of Middlebury’s culture, and that poor attendance among the student body is therefore surprising. While the Snow Bowl and other skiing areas undoubtedly attract students to Middlebury, there are numerous reasons why student attendance at the Carnival races were low, none of which are the result of Middlebury’s diversity or less-than-sufficient support from the school.
First, and most significantly, skiing is a niche sport; it will never attract as much interest as soccer, basketball or football, even at a school like Middlebury. Almost all fans of a sport are, or were, participants themselves at some level. Interest in skiing is restricted by a number of different factors. It is accessible only to the wealthy who live in certain geographic regions or have the means or ability to travel to those areas. Further, skiing is an activity that is passed on from generation to generation. It therefore faces tremendous difficulties attracting new participants and fans. While there are many “first-generation” basketball players and fans, there are significantly fewer first-generation skiers.
Secondly, skiing is not a spectator sport and people who enjoy outdoor activity often have little interest in spectating. Mountains are often cold, remote places and are not usually designed to accommodate hundreds or thousands of spectators in addition to participants themselves. It is far easier to ask hundreds of students to walk, often in unison, to the Field House than it is to ask those same students to drive 20 minutes up a mountain. Furthering the problem is that skiing is an activity that attracts people who enjoy outdoor activities. Speaking generally, those are most often people who prefer not to be spectators, particularly when a long weekend early in the semester provides a great opportunity to take an overnight trip.
Thirdly, “the entire reason Winter Carnival exists” is not “to celebrate the ski team’s only home race of the year.” A number of different activities take place over the course of the weekend that engage the student body. The Mountain Club’s “Northern Lights Competition” and the ice sculpture competition are two of the many events and traditions that take place over the course of the weekend.
Finally, students at the College are constantly involved in different clubs, organizations and events independent of Winter Carnival, not to mention their academics. Varsity athletes alone make up 27 percent of the student body, two-thirds of whom are either in season or preparing for their upcoming season. Factoring in the time that it takes to attend a ski race, with nearly an hour allotted for travel alone, makes the event an all-day affair. This precludes many people from attending the event, whether they are athletes themselves or not.
Low turnout at the Snow Bowl last weekend does not point to a “fanhood problem” on campus and is not the fault of poor advertising or a lack of support on the part of the College. In fact, the Student Government Association (SGA) subsidizes ACTR in order to provide frequent and free transportation to the Snow Bowl. Middlebury is a school that appropriately supports its athletes and teams, and does not need to take further action to “champion” them. There are so many reasons to love small school athletics, but if you’d rather go to a school where you get doused with beer for lack of compliance than one that supports a diversity of interests and requires a limited amount of self-promotion from its athletes, I don’t know what to tell you. Middlebury may not be the place for you.
(02/20/13 6:26pm)
The fourth-ranked men’s basketball team advanced to the NESCAC semifinals for the sixth straight year, downing Wesleyan 61-49 on Saturday, Feb. 16. The Cardinals, featuring a triumvirate of 1,000-point scorers — Shasha Brown, Mike Callaghan and Derick Beresford — managed to shoot just 32.7 percent from the floor, as the Panthers opened the game in a suffocating 3-2 zone and kept the visitors out of rhythm all afternoon long. The loss dropped Wesleyan to 12-13, ending a highly disappointing season for a team ranked in the preseason top 25 poll.
“We did a great job on the defensive end, holding down a very talented Wesleyan team,” head coach Jeff Brown said. “I couldn’t be more pleased with the combination of our zone defense and the man-to-man [defense]. [The combination] was very successful.”
Middlebury opened the game with an early five-point lead as tri-captain Jake Wolfin ’13 found 6’8’’-center Jack Roberts underneath the basket for an easy layup. Both teams struggled from the floor in the first half, however, as the Panthers’ zone stymied the Cardinals, and Wesleyan’s slow pace in turn limited the home team to just 10 made field goals on 24 attempts in the first half. While Middlebury hauled in six offensive rebounds and turned the ball over just four times in the first half, the team led by just three at the intermission, as junior guard Joey Kizel ’14 hit a jumper with 39 seconds left in the first to take a 24-21 lead.
Wesleyan, meanwhile, received very little contribution from its “Big 3” as Beresford, Brown and Callaghan combined to shoot 2-17 in the first half.
“We just tried to pressure them — get right up in their shirts right from the tip,” said tri-captain Nolan Thompson ’13. “We try to do that most time that we play them and it doesn’t always work. It’s better if they miss the first shot and then we don’t let them get into a rhythm offensively.”
Cardinals forward Glenn Thomas, meanwhile, kept his team in the game, nearly recording a double-double in the first half alone, scoring eight points on four-for-four shooting while pulling down nine rebounds. Thomas accounted for five of Wesleyan’s nine offensive rebounds as Joe Reilly’s team crashed the offensive glass in the first half, preying on Middlebury’s inability to box out in the zone defense.
“[Rebounding] has been a big issue all year for us,” said Thompson. “And it’s not just the bigs that need to rebound — we need to come down and help. If our guys are crashing as the guards, we need to go in and help the bigs get a rebound.”
Unable to develop any momentum before the break, the Panthers opened the second half on a 12-4 run, sparked by Wolfin. The New Jersey native converted a three-point play, as Brown, Wesleyan’s diminutive guard, picked up his third foul of the game, less than a minute into the second half. Then, after both teams traded a pair of baskets, Kizel found Wolfin down the floor for an open look from three. Wolfin sank the shot, giving his team a 34-25 lead at the 16:05 mark. Following a 30-second time out taken by coach Brown, Kizel finished the run with a layup in transition off an assist from Wolfin who assisted or scored four of the seven baskets over the stretch.
Callaghan then scored seven of the Cardinals’ next 10 points, cutting the deficit to six with 10:46 left to play. That was as close as the visitors would come, however, as Wolfin and Kizel hit back-to-back threes, ending a 3:33 scoring drought and extending the lead back to double digits after.
“A lot of times we get passive towards the end of the game if we have the lead and hold the ball,” Thompson said. “[In this game] we focused more on still attacking, trying to push the lead, because when we ease off the gas we’re not a good team and we allow them to come back.”
Wolfin and Kizel would provide the dagger shortly thereafter. As the clock ticked inside five minutes, Wolfin drove to his left, spinning a running shot that was part layup, part hook shot off the glass.
Not to be outdone, Kizel clinched the win for the Panthers two minutes later. With his team up 12 and less than three minutes remaining, the junior guard held the ball near half court, allowing the shot clock to reach the 10-second mark before making his move. Kizel took two dribbles and, still three feet behind the arc, drained a straightaway three pointer to give the Panthers their largest lead of the game.
Middlebury made seven of its eight free throws down the stretch for good measure, scoring for the final time with 49 seconds left in the game as tri-captain Peter Lynch ’13 sank a pair from the charity stripe. The 6’6’’ big man finished the game with 12 points and eight rebounds in just 24 minutes due to foul trouble.
Kizel, meanwhile, led the team in scoring for the third straight game, racking up 20 points on just 11 shots, including three-for-five shooting from beyond the arc. Over that stretch the Panthers’ leading scorer in conference is averaging 22 points per game while shooting 49 percent from the floor and 47 percent from beyond the arc.
“He is a game player,” coach Brown said of Kizel. “In the last couple of games he’s come out [with] a concentrated effort to score the ball. When he’s aggressive he’s really hard to check on the defensive end — he can create his shot at any time. When we’re in trouble he’s the guy who makes things happen on the offensive end.”
Tri-captains Thompson and Wolfin rounded out the Panthers in double figures, each chipping in 12 apiece with 11 of Wolfin’s coming in the second half.
Thompson, the heavy favorite to win the NESCAC Defensive Player of the Year award, held Brown — who entered the game as the leading scorer in conference play with 18.9 points per game — scoreless through the first 31:50 of the game before the 5’11’’ Wesleyan guard made a pair of free throws. Brown finished the game with six points and just one field goal on 11 shot attempts. He finished his career as the all-time leading scorer in Wesleyan men’s basketball history.
“[Thompson] is truly unbelievable,” said coach Brown. “There’s not another player in this league that could control Shasha Brown the way Nolan did. He might be a one-in-a-lifetime type of defensive player. His energy and his focus on the defensive end is unmatched.”
Thompson, meanwhile, is also a serious candidate for NESCAC Player of the Year. The Akron, Ohio native has put together a stellar senior campaign, ranking among the NESCAC’s best offensive players in addition to being the premier defensive player in the conference. In 10 league games, Thompson averaged 14 points per game and five rebounds while shooting 54 percent from the floor, 52 percent from beyond the arc and 91 percent from the line, all the while limiting the top scorers in the conference.
“We have a very talented team, but I would say he’s the most valuable player given how strong he is on the defensive end and the things he can do offensively to contribute to this team,” said Brown, endorsing Thompson for the award.
Thompson and the Panthers travel this weekend to Amherst for a NESCAC semifinal matchup with Williams, Saturday, Feb. 23. The teams last met Jan. 26 in a one-point Ephs win in Williamstown, Mass. The winner will advance to the NESCAC finals to play the winner of Tufts and Amherst. Middlebury’s senior class has played in each of the past three NESCAC finals, winning the 2011 title.
(02/13/13 10:49pm)
Three overtimes, 205 combined points and nearly two-and-a-half hours after the opening tip, the third-ranked men’s basketball team finally succumbed to Amherst 104-101 in triple overtime on Tuesday, Feb. 12, Joey Kizel ’14’s 60-foot heave at the buzzer clanging with finality off of the front rim.
With the loss, Middlebury dropped to 21-2 on the season, the only blemishes on an otherwise perfect record coming against Williams and Amherst by a combined four points. Middlebury enters the NESCAC tournament in third place in the conference and will host Wesleyan Friday, Feb. 16 in the tournament quarterfinal.
The Panthers entered Tuesday’s game needing a win to force a three-way tie at the top of the NESCAC. Had they won, seeding of the top three teams — Middlebury, Amherst and Williams — would have been determined by pulling the selected school’s name out of a hat. Instead, Middlebury lost for just the second time this season, finishing 8-2 in NESCAC play, and cementing their third-place position entering the NESCAC tournament.
The game was one for the ages, featuring 16 lead changes — six in the second overtime alone — and nine ties. After falling behind 6-2 in the opening minutes of the game, the Panthers went on a 23-12 run as Kizel and tri-captain Peter Lynch ’13 combined to score the team’s first 10 points of the game and 15 of the first 17.
Trailing 25-18 with 9:33 left in the first half, Amherst flipped the script, finishing the half on a 25-4 run to take a 43-29 lead into the break. Forwards Willy Workman and Allen Williamson combined to score 27 of the Lord Jeffs’ 43 first-half points on 11-15 shooting from the floor.
“That was the key stretch for them, building that halftime lead,” head coach Jeff Brown said. “We had a lot of empty trips on the offensive end and defensively we struggled to stop them during that stretch.”
In the second half the Panthers slowly chipped away at the Amherst lead, reducing the deficit to six with 14:15 left in regulation as tri-captain Nolan Thompson ’13, who played all 55 minutes of the game, made four consecutive shots over a 4:09 stretch, outscoring the Lord Jeffs 10-2 during that time.
“The way [Thompson] competes is an unbelievable gift,” Brown said. “From the bench, it didn’t look like he was any different in the last overtime than he was in the first 20 minutes of the contest. He really has great endurance.”
David Hixon’s team responded with a 9-2 run of its own to extend the lead back to 13 with 11:21 left to play before Middlebury finally made its move.
Middlebury’s triumvirate of guards willed the team back into the game as Kizel, Thompson and Jake Wolfin ’13 — who joined Thompson as one of eighteen 1,000-point scorers in program history in a win over Lyndon State Feb. 5 — combined to score 22 of the team’s final 27 points over the last 11:53 of regulation.
“We’ve fought back from deficits before, so our mindset is always [that] we’re going to fight back and claw to the end,” said Kizel. “We’ve got strong character — we’re not going to let up.”
Kizel sparked the run with a steal and three-point play to cut the Amherst lead to 10 with 10:37 remaining. His play on both ends of the floor was eerily similar to the play he made against Amherst last season in the NESCAC final that propelled another late Panther run to shave a double-digit deficit.
The teams traded baskets with the comeback momentarily stalled at 10. With 6:16 remaining, however, Wolfin knocked down a long three — his first basket of the game — and the floodgates opened. Middlebury ended the game on a 13-4 run as another Wolfin three with 1:31 remaining in regulation gave Middlebury its first lead since the 5:22 mark in the first half.
“[Wolfin] had a slow start offensively and in the second half he hit some big threes and became more aggressive offensively,” Brown said. “When we were in jeopardy with foul trouble with our bigs we had to utilize our guard play to build on a lead or catch up during the overtimes.”
The final 1:31 saw four lead changes as the game seesawed back and forth. Free throws from Peter Kaasila and Thompson gave their respective teams leads. Kaasila then took the lead back, cleaning up the glass after Aaron Toomey missed a running layup with 18 seconds left in regulation to give Amherst a 69-68 lead. Allen Williamson then fouled Kizel going to the basket, sending the NESCAC’s top free-throw shooter from a year ago to the line. Kizel made the first, tying the game, but hit the back iron on the second, giving Amherst one chance at the buzzer to win the game. Toomey’s long three was well wide of the mark, however, sending the game into the first of three overtimes.
Amherst led much of the way in the first extra period, but could not find an answer for Wolfin, who scored Middlebury’s first 10 points in overtime including a desperation three with 27 seconds remaining and the Panthers trailing by four. The Panthers then fouled Williamson, who made one of two free throws. On the other end, Wolfin went careening down the lane, missing a wild layup. Much like the end of regulation, however, an offensive rebound and putback — this time from Jack Roberts ’14 — sent the game into a second overtime as Toomey once again failed to get a good look before time expired.
Perhaps as a result of fatigue, both teams failed to score during the first 1:53 of the second overtime period. Kaasila, who scored a career-high 29 points and nabbed 11 rebounds — eight on the offensive glass — ended the drought making one of two free throws to give the visitors a one-point lead with 3:07 remaining. The lead changed hands five more times over the next 2:57 as Thompson sank a three from the corner off a Wolfin feed with 26 seconds remaining in overtime to give Middlebury a one-point advantage. Following a Kaasila missed layup the Lord Jeffs were forced to foul, sending sophomore Hunter Merryman ’15 to the line. Despite shooting one of eight from the floor to that point, the California-native stepped to the line and knocked down the free throws, giving the Panthers a three-point lead with nine seconds left. Brown elected to foul intentionally, sending the Lord Jeffs to the line rather than allowing a chance to tie the game from beyond the arc. Toomey, who entered the game as the best free throw shooter in Division III basketball missed the crucial first free throw and, despite attempting to miss the second shot intentionally, accidentally sank the second shot, cutting the Middlebury lead back to two, but giving possession back to the Panthers. Wolfin was then fouled on the inbound pass, sending him to the free throw line with five seconds remaining and a chance to ice the game. Wolfin rolled the first shot in, but left the second shot short. Leading by three, Middlebury fouled intentionally again off the miss, this time sending Workman, who also finished with a career-high 30 points in the game, to the line. Workman successfully executed what Toomey failed to do, sinking the first shot before throwing a line drive shot that caught the front of the rim and sat up in the air perfectly for the charging Workman, who executed all phases of the play, laying the ball in as time expired, sending the game into a third overtime in the most improbable fashion.
“[Workman] quick-shot the ball and he was first to the basketball,” Brown said. “It was unfortunate that he got a great bounce and had the opportunity to tie it up. Our interior guys were battling with their bigs. He was quick to the ball and [Amherst] made a great basketball play.”
The Lord Jeffs led for all but 39 seconds in the third and final overtime as Kaasila poured in six more points while grabbing three offensive rebounds, overpowering the Panthers’ smaller defenders after both Lynch and Roberts fouled out. Roberts, the 6’8’’ center played one of the best games of his career before disqualifying, demonstrating his versatility on both ends of the floor, guarding the much smaller, quicker Williamson at times to great effect.
“The foul trouble hurt us and losing our two starting big [men] against Peter Kaasila made it a problem,” said Brown. “He really hurt us in the [final] overtime on the backboards, getting some misses and putting them back in.”
Middlebury refused to concede, however, as Kizel drained a long three-pointer with 1:11 remaining to cut the Amherst lead to one. The Panthers then forced a pair of missed shots from Toomey and Kaasila, giving them a chance to take the lead with less than a minute remaining. After a disastrous possession that culminated in a turnover, Thompson made the umpteenth great defensive play of the game, intercepting the subsequent inbound pass from his centerfield position in the Panthers’ full-court press. Thompson then lofted an entry pass inside to James Jensen ’14 who was fouled in the act of shooting. The junior wingman made one of two free throws, tying the game at 101 and setting the scene for the fateful finish. Toomey, the Lord Jeffs’ preseason all-American, who had made just four of 23 shots to that point, took the inbound pass with 10 seconds left in the game, bee-lined to the three-point line, set his defender up with a cross-over dribble and drained the game-winning trey from the right wing with under five seconds remaining. Kizel’s subsequent desperation heave was on-line, but fell just a foot short, much like the effort of his team.
“We had a few chances to win it and unfortunately we didn’t execute at the end,” Kizel said. “But we can compete and we know we’re right there — just a few less lapses and a little bit more concentration.”
Prior to Tuesday’s loss — the men’s first home regular season loss in more than three years — the Panthers had reeled off five straight wins including conference wins over Bowdoin, Colby and Trinity. The winning streak was bookended by the team’s two lone losses of the season, the first of which came at Williams on Jan 26.
Middlebury jumped out to an early lead in Williamstown, outscoring the Ephs 26-11 over a 9:30 period in the first half to take a 41-32 lead with 2:02 remaining in the first half. Kizel and Lynch led the way for Middlebury, with 11 and 10 points in the first half, respectively, while combining to shoot nine for 11 from the floor. However, Middlebury went cold late in the first half, failing to score over the final two minutes of the period, as a 6-0 Williams-run cut the halftime lead to three. Middlebury’s play in the second half mirrored the first as poor play down the stretch plagued the Panthers. With 4:21 remaining, the visitors led by seven after Thompson sank a deep three. The team failed to score again, and Williams ended the game on a 9-0 run, taking a one-point lead on a layup from a cutting Daniel Wohl with 31 seconds remaining. Middlebury had one final chance to win the game, but a deep three-point attempt from Merryman clanged off the front rim, handing the Panthers their first loss of the season.
Jensen was the player of the game for the visitors, scoring 12 points in the losing effort. The Vallhalla High School alumnus aggressively exploited soft spots in the Ephs zone defense while limiting Williams star center Michael Mayer on the defensive end, pulling down a team-leading six rebounds despite a three-inch, 42-pound differential between the two. Lynch, meanwhile, was unstoppable on the floor, scoring 16 points in just 16 minutes of play, as he was limited by foul troubles and fouled out of the game with 1:13 remaining.
After the disappointing performance in Williamstown, Middlebury returned to the friendly confines of Pepin Gymnasium where they throttled an overmatched Keene State team, avenging last seasons upset at the hands of the Owls. Lynch, Kizel and Wolfin paced the Panthers, scoring 14 points apiece as the Panthers shot a scorching 59 percent from the floor.
Conference wins over Bowdoin, Colby and Trinity over a 10-day span guaranteed that Middlebury could finish no worse than third in the NESCAC, priming the thrilling finish to the regular season against Amherst. The win over Trinity Sunday, Feb. 10, which served as a makeshift senior night after winter storm Nemo created scheduling issues, marked the 100th win in the careers of the three senior captains.
The Panthers will host Wesleyan in the NESCAC quarterfinals Friday, Feb. 16 in a rematch of Middlebury’s 78-77 overtime escape earlier this season.
“We’ve got a big game Saturday,” said Kizel. “We’ve got to focus and win that game. We want a chance at Williams and Amherst again. We know we’re right there.”
(01/24/13 12:38am)
The third-ranked men’s basketball team improved to 15-0 on the season with a 66-47 win over Hamilton on Jan. 18. Senior captain Nolan Thompson ’13 entered the game just three points shy of 1000 for his career and wasted no time achieving the feat, knocking down his first shot attempt of the game — a corner three set up by an assist from Jake Wolfin ’13 — sparking a 12-0 Middlebury run.
“For Nolan to get 1000 — coming in with me and being one of my best friends for four years — it’s an incredible thing to see,” said Wolfin. “He’s a hard worker and he deserves it.”
Thompson finished the game with 18 points, converting seven of his 10 shot attempts, moving him into 16th-place on the program’s all-time scoring list. The Akron, Ohio native began his Middlebury career four years ago as a walk-on.
“Coach, the first week, said that a kid named Nolan Thompson would be trying out,” said Wolfin. “So we went to meet him and he was doing his crazy work out in the gym and a lot of the older guys were a little suspicious, but they realized right away that [Thompson] is a great leader and obviously has done an amazing job for this program. We were blessed to get him.”
After the Panthers jumped out to a 14-3 lead, Hamilton responded with back-to-back baskets, cutting the Middlebury lead to seven at the 10:55 mark. That was as close as the Continentals would get in the first half, however, as Thompson and Joey Kizel ’14 scored the Panthers next 11 points as the home team engineered a 10-3 run over the next 3:11 to the delight of the Pepin Gymnasium crowd.
“It’s always great playing at home where guys are comfortable in this setting,” said head coach Jeff Brown. “But all three of our starting guards shoot the three-ball very well and they play off each other so well that they get great opportunities.”
“Just starting off with [Kizel] and [Thompson] making three or four shots each in the first couple of minutes, those guys are so talented offensively and they work so hard on their shot in practice it’s clear that those are going to go in,” Wolfin said. “We’re all willing to move the ball and we know when someone’s hot.”
Though the Panthers led 27-13 at the 7:06 mark of the first half, the team made just one field goal down the stretch, missing six of seven attempts from the floor and went into the half up 32-22.
“It’s been something that’s been a little frustrating for us, being down at half[time] and really starting off games slowly,” Brown said. “We got a lot of stops early, we were clicking offensively and that early blast gave us a little bit of cushion.”
After a Thompson three extended Middlebury’s lead to 13 to open the second half, the Continentals went on a 7-0 run of their own including five straight points from forward Peter Kazickas to cut the Panther lead to six. The hosts re-doubled their lead over the next 7:11 as Thompson and sophomore Hunter Merryman ’15 combined to score 12 consecutive points for the Panthers. Merryman provided needed scoring off the bench, as the sharpshooter from San Marino, Calif. contributed 13 points in 17 minutes, including 11 in the second half. Wolfin, meanwhile, assisted or made eight of nine Middlebury baskets over a 7:50 stretch during which the Panthers extended their lead to 19 and sealed their fifth conference win of the season.
“Coming out in the first five minutes is so important for us in the second half and not starting slow,” Wolfin said. “We started fast in the first half for the first time in a while so [I came] out looking to get to the basket a little bit. With a couple of their guards I had a strength advantage going inside and trying to finish, so I tried to put a little pressure on them and then kick the [ball] out to [Merryman] or [Thompson].”
While the Panthers scored 15 points fewer than their season average, the nation’s third-ranked team held Hamilton to just 47 points — the fewest Middlebury has allowed to a NESCAC regular season opponent since the 1999-2000 season.
“When we play defense like that we’re tough to beat,” Wolfin said. “It was a full team effort. Jack [Roberts ’14] was great protecting the rim and [Thompson] did a great job on [Hamilton’s] stud freshman [Matt Hart] — he’s a great player. We paid attention to the scout[ing report] and did a really good job on help [defense].”
The Continentals shot just 35 percent from the floor while turning the ball over 16 times. Roberts created havoc inside, blocking four shots and altering numerous more as Hamilton’s trio of frontcourt starters combined to score just 12 points while shooting four of 19 from the floor.
“[Roberts] has picked up [his defensive play],” said Brown. “That’s really his calling card with this team — to make a contribution guarding the other team’s big player. We don’t give [him] a lot of help, but he’s really long and he’s got good timing and he’s able to change some shots on the interior and block some shots.”
Roberts and the Panthers will have their hands full this week as Middlebury travels to Williamstown, Mass. Saturday, Jan. 26 for a matchup of top-10 teams nationally with considerable NESCAC implications. Roberts will have the task of stopping Williams star, big man Michael Mayer who enters the game fourth in the conference in scoring and second in rebounding.
“For our young student-athletes to have an opportunity to play a ranked team in their gym in our conference in a game that is a battle for sole possession perhaps of first place in our league is really exciting,” Brown said. “I know it’s going to be a packed house and there’s going to be a lot of excitement and enthusiasm and I think our guys will be up for the challenge.”
Middlebury downed Williams twice last season, once in the regular season and again in the NESCAC semifinals.
(01/17/13 1:40am)
The third-ranked Panthers have opened NESCAC play with four straight wins, improving to 14-0 on the season. Three of those wins, however, came by three points or fewer, including a pair of one-point wins over Tufts and Wesleyan — the latter coming in a 79-78 overtime victory on Saturday, Jan. 12. In all three contests, Middlebury’s opponents have missed opportunities to tie or win the game at the buzzer, preserving Middlebury’s undefeated record.
Middlebury opened NESCAC play with a Friday night game in Lewistown, Maine against Bates followed by a game in Medford, Mass. less than 20 hours later.
In a physical matchup with Bates, the Panthers limited the Bobcats to just 41 percent shooting from the floor, but were outrebounded 42-24, and 14-3 on the offensive glass, by the Bobcats, the shortest team in the conference.
“I don’t care who we play — we can’t [get outrebounded] by 18,” said senior captain Peter Lynch ’13. “[Rebounding] was a huge emphasis in practice this week. We’re doing everything right, but we’re not being aggressive enough to go get it. We’re trying to box out, but we weren’t being tough enough.”
The following day at Tufts Middlebury quickly found itself in a 7-0 hole as the Jumbos jumped on the visitors early. Trailing 52-39, the Panthers finally made their run, outscoring Tufts 24-9 over the next 8:18 to take a 63-61 lead with 4:39 remaining in the game.
Leading 70-69 with 24 seconds remaining, Jake Wolfin ’13 attempted a full court pass to James Jensen ’14 behind the Jumbos’ press in the corner of the court. Unable to haul in Wolfin’s pass, Jensen turned the ball over, giving Tufts one final chance to win the game. The Panthers’ swingman rectified his mistake, however, rejecting Kwame Firempong’s game-winning layup attempt as time expired.
Middlebury returned home a week later, hosting Connecticut College and Wesleyan in a pair of matchups featuring two of the NESCAC’s top scorers: the Camels’ Matt Vadas, the conference’s top scorer, and Wesleyan’s Shasha Brown, a first-team All-NESCAC selection a season ago.
In Friday’s game against Conn. College, Middlebury found itself trailing early, as the Camels scored 12 of the game’s first 16 points. Nolan Thompson ’13 kept the Panthers in the game on both ends of the floor, as he connected on each of his first six shots of the game, accounting for 10 of the team’s first 12 points and 15 of the first 19. Defensively he limited Vadas, also the leader in field goal attempts per game, to just four points on two shots in the first half.
Despite Thompson’s near-perfect performance on both ends, Middlebury trailed by two at the half as the Camels shot better than 50 percent from the floor and Thompson’s teammates shot an icy 8-26 over the first 20 minutes of the game.
After a poor first half, Middlebury erupted out of the break, scoring the first 10 points of the second half, and 13 of 15 as Joey Kizel ’14 scored eight of his team-high 17 second-half points in the first 5:17 of the period. After the Camels cut the lead to four with 13:14 remaining, Panthers methodically extended the lead, culminating in a convincing 85-68 win as the Panthers totaled 51 second half points on 61 percent shooting.
The seminal moment of the game came with 6:44 to play. Needing just six assists to break Ben Rudin ’09’s all-time assist mark, Wolfin found Kizel on the wing for a wide-open three, extending the lead to nine and giving Wolfin his sixth assist of the game 461st dime of his career, a new program record.
“The assist record means a lot to me,” said Wolfin. “Middlebury has an amazing basketball tradition and to be in the record books for assists is really cool. More importantly, this record is a testament to my teammates who have finished for me over the past four years. The play that it happened on was typical of our team. Everyone touched the ball and we all passed up on good shots to get a great shot.”
Thompson, the NESCAC Player of the Week, played the first 38 minutes of the game, adding seven rebounds, three assists and a block while holding Vadas to seven points on two of six shooting.
“On the court you see it — he’s nonstop — he doesn’t get tired,” assistant coach Scott Picard said of Thompson. “You ask him to play full court defense for 40 minutes, and he does it.”
Thompson may see even more minutes going forward, as reserve guards Nate Bulluck ’14 and Dean Brierley ’15 both sustained injuries that will keep them out multiple weeks. The injuries are particularly costly given the absence of Dylan Sinnickson ’15, a breakout player as a first-year last season, who has yet to play this season after breaking his forearm in the preseason.
“It’s just crazy [how] that stuff will happen,” said Lynch. “Three hustle plays and [three injuries]. So now it’s up to other guys — and it’s a good thing we’re so deep. It’s giving other guys other opportunities.”
With the top two reserve guards unavailable, junior Albert Nascimento ’14 saw extended minutes off the bench, and rose to the occasion, draining a three in each half and playing strong on-ball defense during his 10 minutes on the floor.
Despite Nascimento’s contribution, Middlebury trailed again early against Wesleyan, falling behind by nine midway through the first half before closing the gap as the half closed. The Panthers opened the game in a 3-2 zone, challenging Wesleyan, which entered the game shooting just 32 percent from three as a team, to beat them with the long ball.
Middlebury took its first lead of the game on a Jensen three-point play with two minutes left in the half. Five straight points from Wesleyan’s Derick Beresford, including a three to beat the shot clock, gave the Cardinals the lead again with less than 10 seconds remaining in the half, setting the scene for the final dramatic play of the half. Catching the inbound pass with seconds remaining, Wolfin released the basketball a couple feet behind the half court circle, sinking the desperation heave to give Middlebury a one-point advantage at the half.
“[In] the first half of the Wesleyan [game] my shot felt a little bit off,” he said. “For some reason that half court shot felt good. There was definitely some luck involved but it gave me confidence going into the second half. I felt much more comfortable on the first few shots of the second half and got into a rhythm.”
Wolfin hit his first three shots after the break providing the catalyst for a 16-4 Middlebury run early in the period, which gave the Panthers a 46-35 lead at the 13:37 mark. Wolfin and Kizel accounted for 14 of the 16 points in the run, and 21 second half points overall as Kizel led the Panthers with 13 second half points.
The Panthers took their largest lead of the game with 5:55 remaining and seemingly had the game in hand. However, over the final 5:09 of regulation, Brown scored 12 points on four field goal attempts as he and senior center Mike Callaghan combined to score Wesleyan’s final 21 points of regulation and 27 of the team’s final 29, including 24 straight.
Trailing by two after a pair of free throws from Brown with eight seconds left, Wesleyan fouled Wolfin on the ensuing inbound pass, sending him to the line to shoot two free throws. The Middlebury guard — a 76 percent free throw shooter on the season — made the front end, giving the Panthers a three-point lead, but left the second shot short with a chance to ice the game. The rebound fell to Brown, who was immediately fouled with 3.2 seconds remaining, denying him the opportunity to launch a game-tying three at the buzzer. Instead, Brown went to the line, needing to make the first free throw before intentionally missing the second in order to give his team a chance to tie the game with an offensive rebound and put back before the buzzer.
After the Wesleyan guard converted the first shot, Middlebury head coach Jeff Brown called timeout to set up his defense for the final play.
“During the huddle, coach [Brown] said, ‘I don’t want to get beat on the three so let’s make them execute something perfectly’ and it happened to be [executed] perfectly,” assistant coach Scott Picard said.
“Instead of having two players on the line I elected to have two off the line because [Wesleyan] had [Mike] Callaghan and Beresford at the top [of the key] and I really didn’t want to see them get possession of the ball and back out for a three that would win the game,” said Brown.
With nobody to box him out to his right, the Wesleyan guard alertly threw the ball on a line at the rim, just to the right of the center, bouncing the ball directly back to himself and away from Thompson who was attempting to box him out from the other side. Wesleyan’s Brown collected the ball, took a dribble to his right and floated a shot off the glass and in at the buzzer to send the game into overtime.
“Shasha Brown nailed that free throw perfectly and he’s such a freak athlete, just so quick to the ball, that he got it back and had an unbelievably easy shot,” coach Brown said. “But we did have another five minutes to play, and to our credit, our guys just kept battling and the character and heart of our group is really, really special. [For] a lot of teams losing a 12-point lead and then getting behind in overtime there would be some quit, but not with our guys.”
After trading scores, Middlebury had the ball up one with 56 seconds remaining in overtime. The Panthers struggled to find a good look and failed to extend their lead, allowing Wesleyan to hold for the final shot of the game and a chance to upset undefeated Middlebury at home.
Coming out of a timeout, Brown tried to use a ball screen to get around the corner and into the lane for the final shot of the game. Instead, Hunter Merryman ’15 hedged the screen, blocking Brown’s lane to the basket and forcing the electric guard to take an off-balance three-pointer at the buzzer, which bounced off the backboard and front rim, giving Middlebury the one-point victory.
“Until the horn went off I wasn’t sure what was going to happen,” coach Brown said. “Sha [Brown] got back up and threw up a prayer and from where I was sitting, I [thought] it might go in.”
The win improved the Panthers to 13-0, and 4-0 in NESCAC play.
Tuesday, Jan. 15, the Panthers traveled to Castleton State to play their in-state rivals. Hoping to slow down the NESCAC’s top-rated offense coming into the game, the Spartans slowed the pace of play, killing as much clock as possible and limiting Middlebury to just 54 points on 48 field goals. While Castleton State limited the Middlebury’s shot attempts, the hosts failed to slow Lynch who scored 23 points on 11 of 12 shooting, dominating the paint against a much smaller Spartan team. No other Panther player reached double digits, but Kizel finished with a strong all-around performance, scoring eight points while grabbing four rebounds and dishing out five assists. Middlebury opened up an early lead in the game and received another boost from a buzzer beater to end the half — this time off the hand of Thompson. Out of the break the Panthers scored eight of the first 10 points of the second half and outscored the Spartans 30-19 in the second period en route to improving to 14-0.
Middlebury hosts Hamilton Friday, Jan. 18.
(12/06/12 2:59am)
While the national media has intensified its focus on the negative impact of concussions in professional sports, the spotlight has largely passed over Division III athletics. Concussions, however, are an issue at all levels of competition — in October the New York Times reported that five Pop Warner pee wee football players competing in the 120-pound weight limit group suffered concussions — and affect athletes and non-athletes alike.
Medical Director, College Physician and Team Physician Dr. Mark Peluso said that roughly 10 Middlebury student-athletes reported receiving concussions during the 2011-2012 academic year. He believes, however, that the true number of concussions sustained is higher than the given number.
“I expect this number to increase as awareness about concussion leads to increased reporting of a traditionally under-reported condition,” he said.
While other institutions — most notably the National Football League — have come under severe scrutiny either for ignoring the damaging long-term affects of concussions or failing to recognize them, Middlebury understood the severity of concussions at an early stage and has been ahead of the curve with its treatment programs. The College instituted a detailed and comprehensive system of protocols and precautions nearly a decade ago, though awareness of the issue and testing have been an essential element of Middlebury’s sports medicine program for considerably longer.
“It’s one of the things we were doing really well before it became a hot topic,” said Peluso. “We were treating concussions using as much evidence-based or expert-consensus based recommendations years before it became a big issue.”
In an effort to standardize the treatment received by student-athletes in the NESCAC, the Presidents of each college created the Medical Aspect in Sports Committee (MASC). Peluso currently serves as the chairman.
“Based on our preliminary work, we know that all NESCAC schools have the same fundamental approach to concussions,” he said. “There are a few subtle process differences that tend to relate more to the staffing or administrative structure of the different schools.”
Diagnosing Concussions
When an athlete is suspected of having sustained a concussion or exhibits concussion-like symptoms during a game, he or she immediately goes through a series of what Peluso describes as rudimentary neurocognitive tests. These include recalling the months of the year backwards and repeating groups of numbers in reverse order to test cognitive ability and memory. If the tests are completed successfully and the athletic trainer is confident that the individual is not exhibiting signs of a concussion, he or she is still held out of play for a period of time before re-entering to ensure that symptoms do not develop or worsen. If the trainer feels that the player in question has not satisfactorily responded to the baseline tests or worsens during his or her time on the sideline, the player is immediately pulled from the game and cannot return.
“If we even sniff a concussion we remove [the athlete],” Peluso said. “If you come off [the field] and say ‘I feel foggy, I can’t remember the last play,’ [then] you’re done [playing].”
Peluso is aware that a policy with strict in-game protocols may lead athletes who are wary of being pulled from competition to hesitate to report their symptoms.
“The concern is that [these precautions] might lead to underreporting,” he said. "Someone might not want to report symptoms, and I think that’s going to be a fine line that we’re going to need to continue to manage.”
Bob Ritter, head coach of the football team, shared a similar sentiment, but thus far believes that the system in place has not dissuaded members of his team from discussing their injuries.
“One of the things I was initially concerned about was that we would get an underreporting of concussions, and we haven’t seen that,” he said. “Guys are pretty careful about talking to trainers when they’re having symptoms.”
Return to Play Process
After receiving a concussion student-athletes must complete a 10-step process before they are cleared to return to athletic competition. Before that can be accomplished, however, the immediate objective — once symptoms have subsided — is to gradually re-acclimate the individual to the classroom.
“Forget the playing field — we don’t even worry about that initially,” Peluso said. “[The focus] is getting [the student] back to class. It’s their ability to function in the classroom that tends to be the most impaired.”
In the immediate aftermath of a concussion the individual is observed every four to six hours throughout the day and night by a friend or family member who is asked to monitor symptoms and take the necessary steps if conditions deteriorate. Until symptoms dissipate, the patient is advised to rest his or her brain as completely as possible, thereby avoiding reading, doing class work and limiting use of phones, computers and televisions.
Only when the effects of the concussion have abated entirely is the student-athlete advised to return to class. Here the process is gradual as well. First the student is asked to attend all of his or her classes and to attentively listen, but not to participate. If the student is able to do this without issue, he or she can then begin to participate and begin to work on out of class assignments. Finally, if all prior steps have been successfully completed with no recurring symptoms, the student can return to a full academic schedule in and out of class.
Having satisfied the academic requirements, the student-athlete must still return to baseline neurocognitive function — determined by the ImpACT test — before he or she can begin the process of returning to athletic competition. This begins with an aerobic test to examine how the individual’s brain will respond to elevation in both heart rate and blood pressure.
If the athlete does not experience a relapse in the 24 hours following light cardiovascular activity he or she can commence with sport-specific movement. If the individual remains asymptomatic he or she can proceed to non-contact training and weightlifting. This step would permit a wide receiver on the football team to begin individual route running and pass catching. In order to return to full-contact practice, however, he would need to be cleared for full-contact practice by a team physician. This penultimate step allows coaches to assess the athlete’s progress and test his or her game-readiness. Should the individual progress to this point without issue, he or she is finally considered ready for complete participation.
The length of time necessary for a student-athlete to return to the classroom and, subsequently, competitive play after suffering a concussion varies considerably and depends on a number of different factors. Significant factors include the severity of the injury, the number of concussions previously suffered by the individual and whether he or she has a learning disability, to name a few. Typically post-concussion symptoms last two to eight weeks. If after that time the student-athlete continues to experience problems he or she is referred to a neurocognitive specialist. For some athletes who have experienced numerous concussions in the past, the potential risks of continuing playing their sport outweigh the benefits. In some instances the athletes have made the decision on their own, in others Peluso has made the recommendation himself.
“When there have been multiple concussions, return to play may be delayed and in some cases result in a recommendation that the athlete stop playing that sport,” Peluso said. “It is not a pleasant conversation to have with an athlete, but I have had it on several occasions over the past 13 years.”
One such student who felt the risk of sustaining further concussions outweighed the reward of playing is Will Peckham ’14, a former wide receiver on the football team. Peckham suffered a concussion during a preseason practice before the start of his sophomore year. While the immediate symptoms of his concussion were mild, it was his third concussion in just over a year and fourth overall, which delayed his recovery.
“The symptoms from [my fourth concussion] lasted longer than any of my [previous] ones,” said Peckham.
After three weeks of rest he attempted to go through the process of returning to the field for the second time, but stopped when his symptoms returned. Though Peckham was never advised to stop playing football, he decided, given his history with concussions, that stopping was the right thing to do.
“It was a personal decision,” he said. “The marginal benefit of continuing to play wasn’t as great as it used to be.”
Concussions Speak
While student-athletes who suffer concussions at Middlebury have received great medical support, it can be more difficult to discuss your injury with other athletes who have had concussions. Emma Kitchen ’14.5, a former member of the alpine ski team, sustained a severe head injury, complicated further by significant, sustained post-concussion symptoms when she was involved in a two-bike collision on campus two years go. In addition to the critical, immediate aftermath of the accident — Kitchen was transported to an Intensive Care Unit in Burlington — she faced a long, grueling recovery process away from school with little medical advice other than to rest and an uncertain time frame for her recovery.
“I found that the general experience I had with all of my doctors — and I became obsessed with seeing doctors, I saw 15 or 20 doctors — [was that] no one had any answers,” said Kitchen. “No one knew how long it would be, no one knew what the best [way to] recover was.”
Without any sense of when she could expect to make a full recovery and return to school, Kitchen grew increasingly upset.
“It was a really big frustration that I didn’t have anyone to tell me about how their experience was because people were so quiet about it,” she said.
She finally spoke with a friend who had suffered a number of severe concussions, but had decided to continue skiing despite the significant risk it posed. Hearing his story reassured Kitchen in her own recovery process and ultimately created the idea for Concussions Speak, an online forum where athletes who have suffered concussions can share their stories and receive support.
After missing winter term and all of the 2011 spring semester, Kitchen returned to Middlebury the following fall. On the advice of her neurosurgeon she decided to end her collegiate career as a downhill skier, deciding instead to play for the women’s golf team. Kitchen also applied to MiddCORE, which she saw as a great opportunity to start her initiative, Concussions Speak. Kitchen was awarded MiddCORE’s “Next Big Idea” award for her work with MiddCORE during winter term, which included a feature in Middlebury Magazine.
“[It] was incredible,” she said. “I was able to get so many more contacts and really raise awareness much more so than with any other vehicle.”
Kitchen has since then partnered with two other Middlebury students, Kait Surdoval ’12 and Sierra Sittes ’14, each of who have had multiple concussions with years of post-concussion symptoms.
The group’s mission is to “create a support network and open community for any athlete who has suffered a concussion.”
At this point Kitchen is in contact with approximately 50 people who have suffered concussions or have family or friends who have had concussions. She has found that the two groups of people most likely to reach out to her are parents and high school juniors and seniors.
“A lot of [our] contacts are in their last year’s of high school and trying to figure out how to cope with a concussion and get into university,” Kitchen said. “It’s an extremely stressful time for a lot kids and having a concussion added on to that is terrible.”
Going forward, Kitchen believes that in addition to conducting interviews and providing a forum for people who have suffered concussions, the best way for Concussions Speak to spread its message is through public speaking. She is currently planning a panel discussion for the spring on concussions in athletics, which would involve numerous experts in the field.
“The head of the Brain Injury Association of the United States is coming to Middlebury in March,” she explained. “He’s here mostly for neurobiology majors, but I want him to speak to athletes and bring in Dr. Peluso and have one of my doctors from home on Skype [all participate].”
SGA Athletic Trainers Bill
While varsity athletes, and particularly those who compete in contact sports, face a higher risk of suffering concussions, students who participate in club sports — with the exception of crew and rugby — are not covered by the sports medicine department and therefore do not have access to athletic trainers or the trainer’s room. Less than a month ago, however, the Student Government Association (SGA) passed a bill recommending the College create weekly hours when non-varsity athletes can meet with experts in sports medicine and receive treatment for their injuries.
“[A number of different club sports and organizations] were very interested in this bill,” said senior SGA Senator Nathan Arnosti ’13 who sponsored the bill.
In particular, the women’s water polo team, which sustained four concussions as a team last year, is calling on the College to provide more money for greater funding in sports medicine.
“Often, because we don’t have access to the medical trainers and because concussions are difficult to notice right away, our players don’t realize for at least a day that they have a concussion,” said captain Olivia Noble ’13. “What happened with all of the four girls last year was that they woke up the next morning and realized they had difficulty focusing their eyes and had bad headaches, at which point they went to the health center. These weren’t minor incidences, but because there is no protocol in place, they weren’t recognized."
The captain of the men’s water polo team, Peter DiPrinzio ’13, believes that without regular access to athletic trainers, members of his team could risk developing chronic injuries.
“It is very important that we have access to athletic trainers during some set weekly hours to look at chronic and sports-related injuries,” he said. “Without this access, players risk receiving improper or no care for concussions and long-term injuries. Research shows this can have lasting consequences.”
While water polo players may be at less risk than other athletes, Noble does not believe this should restrict them from having access to trainers.
“Water polo players typically suffer fewer acute and chronic injuries than other sports such as rugby, but we feel we are equally justified in ensuring our own personal safety,” she said.
The College currently employs five athletic trainers to cover the 31 varsity sports teams on campus. While he is not responsible for decisions on hiring athletic trainers or their assignments, Director of Athletics Erin Quinn does not believe that the current group can take on additional responsibilities.
“Our athletic trainers are giving all the coverage they can and couldn’t do more than what they’re doing,” he said. “I know that based on how hard they’re working and what they’re doing.”
Arnosti, who understands that the current group of athletic trainers cannot assume greater responsibility, thinks that there are other potential solutions to the issue that would meet the demands of the interested groups.
“It’s going to be an uphill battle,” he admitted. “Hiring a new trainer outright is probably out of the question. I’ve brought up the possibility of doing a partnership with Porter — hiring a trainer from Porter on an hourly basis for two to four hours a week. A third option that we’re looking into is paying [to] train a nurse or another staff member from Parton [Health Center] to be more aware of athletic injuries, including concussions.”
The Next Steps
While Middlebury has a strong foundation in place to treat varsity athletes who suffer concussions, Quinn and Peluso believe that the College would benefit from a higher degree of coordination between the athletics department, sports medicine and the faculty and staff.
“The next step in concussion management at the College … is [to create a joint effort to raise awareness and coordination around the issue],” Quinn said, citing the NESCAC symposium and residential life meetings as two areas where greater discussion about concussions and how they are treated within the foundation of the College can occur.
In February, Peluso and the MASC will meet to discuss how the NESCAC can improve its coverage of concussions. Peluso cited three main areas of improvement: defining concussions, how to treat them and ensuring that both athletes and non-athletes receive greater academic accommodation when experiencing post-concussion symptoms.
“In my experience, one of the biggest problems I see are students that feel pressured to get back to the class early — athlete or non-athlete,” Peluso said. “Teachers by and large are pretty understanding at Middlebury. There are a few that maybe don’t get it, but it’s the students who feel pressure to get back into the classroom that don’t do as well.”
Peter Kim, the head coach of the women’s soccer team, believes that while concussions receive a lot of reactionary coverage, more work can be done to prevent them from happening.
“We try to take as many steps as we can to eliminate the risk of injury and I think we’ve done a pretty good job of that by adding components to our strength and conditioning program,” Kim said. “We’ll do the same thing for concussions. It’s safe to say that we can do a better job improving neck strength. From what I understand concussions oftentimes come from the whiplash rather than the impact itself. If we can give [players] stronger necks to eliminate that — that’s our next step.”
Finally, the College continues to receive recommendations and input from students and student organizations ranging from Kitchen and Concussions Speak to Arnosti and the SGA and a host of club sports. While Middlebury has been cited by many as “ahead of the curve” in diagnosing and treating concussions, in order to stay ahead it will need to continue to improve and expand its coverage, taking heed not only of the recommendations of its administration, but also of the student body.
(12/05/12 6:26pm)
The third-ranked Middlebury men’s basketball improved to 6-0 Sunday, Dec. 2 in a 79-71 win over Johnson and Wales (2-4). Co-captain Peter Lynch ’13 led the Panthers with 22 points on 15 field goal attempts while pulling down 10 rebounds for his second double-double of the season. Joey Kizel ’14, who has been slowed by some nagging injuries early in the season, had 20 points on eight for 15 shooting, while dishing out eight assists and recording five steals on the other end. Middlebury was playing without starting point guard Jake Wolfin ’13 who missed the game due to injury. In his absence, Kizel played 37 minutes — a season high.
“[With Wolfin] out, I felt like I had to pick up some of the slack and just play more aggressively,” Kizel said. “I’ve been feeling better physically, so that definitely helped me out from a confidence standpoint. I made a few shots early and I just got going.”
“It was great to have [Joey] back in prime form on Sunday, because we really needed him,” said head coach Jeff Brown. “He led us with his assists and also his ability to get to the basket and score. [He also] made a lot of huge plays — I believe it was two or three steals on the defensive end where Johnson and Wales had numbers on us and it looked from the bench that they were going to end up with a layup and he got deflections and won us the ball back. He really came up big during prime time.”
Hunter Merryman ’15 continued his terrific start to the season, converting five of nine shots, including three crucial threes in the second half, accounting for nine points of a 21-10 run over 8:26 that gave Middlebury a 76-65 lead with 1:32 remaining. Merryman finished the game with 15 points in 25 minutes and appears to have earned the sixth man role. The sophomore swingman is shooting better than 64 percent from beyond the arc this season.
“[Merryman] definitely opens up the court for us and if he continues to shoot like this it’s going to be tough to guard us,” Kizel said. “It’s easier for me because he’s just standing out there and most of the time he’s going to make it. He’s been playing great, hopefully he’ll keep it up.”
Co-captain Nolan Thompson ’13 was the fourth Panther to reach the double-digit mark, scoring 11 points on 11 shots in 39 minutes of play.
James Jensen ’14, meanwhile, scored eight first half points, but managed just one in the second half. He continues to look like one of the team’s most improved players as he has returned for his junior season with a considerably more polished offensive game.
“James has devoted a lot of time in the offseason to developing that part of his game and it makes him a tough matchup to guard because he’s got quickness and dribbling ability to go by defenders,” Brown said. “If he can hit that 15- to 17-foot jumpshot it does provide a new dimension with him on the floor.”
Twice in the first half Middlebury opened up substantial leads and seemed poised to run away with the game. The visitors scored eight of the game’s first nine points to open up a seven-point lead just 3:26 into the game and took their largest lead of the first half with 5:07 remaining when Thompson and Kizel made threes on consecutive possessions. Both times, however, Johnson and Wales rallied to take the lead, as guard Quarry Greenway scored 11 of his team-high 17 points in the first half. The hosts led for just over a minute in the first half — once at the 12:53 mark when forward Esaie Touze made a pair of free throws to complete a 12-4 Wild Cat run and again just before the buzzer sounded at the end of the half as Frank Robinson laid the ball in for two of his 14 points off the bench to give his team a 40-39 lead at the break. The hosts held their largest lead of the game — 49-43 — shortly after the break, which capped a 24-10 run that began with 5:07 left to play in the first half.
Middlebury responded, however, as Kizel came away with three key steals in a six-minute span on one end and Merryman provided some much needed scoring on the other. Lynch scored 16 of his 22 points in the second half as he had considerable room to work down low with Merryman, Kizel and Thompson spreading the floor.
“We had a couple huge threes and you can’t double down when Kizel, Merryman and Thompson [are on the floor],” Lynch said. “When Merryman [was] in the game it was a four out one in situation and I did have a lot of one-on-one situations [with a shorter defender guarding me].”
“Peter has a great knack [for scoring],” Brown said. “He can use both hands on the interior and he’s got some quickness when he receives the ball in the post and a true scorer’s mentality. I’ve been really pleased with what he’s done both on the offensive and defensive ends. He’s really been a force inside for us.”
Lynch played 35 minutes in the game, his career high.
“Towards the end even though I was tired I still felt like I could push through it — that it was worth it,” Lynch said. “I don’t know if I expect to see 35 minutes every NESCAC game, but in big games like that I can’t say I don’t like seeing [those minutes]. I love being in the game at the end of the game and being able to contribute.”
While the Panthers had balanced scoring with 39 points in the first half and 40 in the second, the team went through significant dry spells, making just two field goals over a 5:06 span to end the first half as well as other, less pronounced droughts.
“We just have to keep our minds set on being aggressive,” said Kizel. “We definitely need to improve on our consistency. If we have a lead, we don’t stop going — we just have to keep pushing.”
On the other end, Johnson and Wales received balanced scoring as all five starters scored seven or more points with four different players, including Robinson, reaching the double-digit mark.
Middlebury hosts Johnson State (3-4) and Skidmore (5-1) this week on Dec. 6 and Dec. 8, respectively. The Panthers played a tight game against Skidmore last year, but have not lost to the Thoroughbreds since the 2005-2006 season — the last time Middlebury had a losing season.
(11/29/12 6:15am)
The fourth-ranked men’s basketball team has opened the season with five wins, including a strong performance in the Rinso Marquette Tournament at Lebanon Valley College. Senior captains Nolan Thompson ’13 and Peter Lynch ’13, who was named NESCAC Player of the Week, lead the team in scoring, averaging 16 and 14.5 points per game, respectively. Thompson, meanwhile was named the Most Valuable Player of the Tip-off Tournament, while sophomore Hunter Merryman ’15 was named to the all-tournament team. Merryman, who hails from San Marino, Calif. is one of the leading candidates for the sixth man role, having shown great scoring touch early in the season, particularly from beyond the arc where he leads the team with eight made threes on just 13 attempts.
“Hunter has had a terrific start to his sophomore season,” said head coach Jeff Brown. “His ability to shoot the three ball and [make] plays going to the basket is a great contribution to this team. I expect he’ll be one of those sixth-man [guys] where he’s going to score a lot of big baskets for us.”
The Panthers opened their season in Annville, Penn., edging Ursinus 78-73 in the opening game of the Rinso Marquette Tournament. Five different players recorded double-digit points for Middlebury with Thompson and Merryman leading the way with 13 points apiece. Guards Joey Kizel ’14 and Jake Wolfin ’13 had 12 and 10 points, respectively and Lynch had 10 of his own.
In the championship game the next day Middlebury pulled away late from hosts Lebanon Valley in a 72-63 win despite being out-rebounded 42-26. Thompson led the way once again with 18 points en route to being named the tournament’s MVP while Wolfin added 17 more, making five of his eight attempts. Merryman stretched the floor for the Panthers, shooting four for six from beyond the three-point arc. Swing-man James Jensen ’14, who had four steals in the opening round, recorded 14 points and a team-high five rebounds. While the offense found its rhythm in the second half, defensively the Panthers failed to contain Dutchmen forward Danny Brooks who wreaked havoc in the post, torching the Panthers down low for 30 points and 13 rebounds. Middlebury did just enough to keep Lebanon Valley at arm’s length before going on a 24-12 run to seal the victory, and the championship, after the Dutchmen closed within three points midway through the second half.
Tuesday, Nov. 20 the team traveled to Poultney, Vt. in their first regular season game, against Green Mountain College. The Eagles gave the Panthers all they could handle in the first half, taking a 33-32 lead late in the half. Middlebury responded, however, going on a 16-8 run to take a 48-41 lead at the break. The Panthers dominated the second half, scoring 69 points after the intermission as Lynch had 13 of his game-high 27 points on six of six shooting in the second half. Albert Nascimento ’14 had 14 points, all of which came in the final 20 minutes, as the junior from Governador Valadares, Brazil finished with four field goals on six attempts and sunk five of six free throws. Wolfin and Merryman each added 14 points as well while Thompson, who has scored in double digits in every game so far this season, had 10. The Panthers shot a scorching 76 percent from the floor in the second half and 65 percent for the game, while out-rebounding Green Mountain 50-27.
Middlebury then traveled to Plattsburgh State in a meeting of unbeaten teams. The visiting Panthers got off to a slow start, scoring just 24 points in the first half and went into the locker room trailing by five — their first half-time deficit of the season. The Cardinals extended their lead to nine early in the second half, dominating the offensive and defensive glass while disrupting the Panthers’ offensive sets with heavy pressure on the perimeter. The visitors whittled their way back, taking a 39-38 lead on a Merryman three-pointer with 13:43 remaining, the team’s first lead since the 12:34 mark in the first half. Following back-and-forth play that saw eight lead changes in just over six minutes, the Panthers took the lead for good on a jumper from Jensen with 6:08 remaining. Lynch and Thompson then combined to score 20 of the team’s next 22 points as Middlebury clung to a tenuous lead that oscillated between two and seven points. The Cardinals went to a full-court press down the stretch defensively while catching fire from beyond the arc, offensively, at one point scoring 12 consecutive points courtesy of the long ball. Thompson iced the game late, however, extending the lead to seven with two free throws with 59 seconds to play, which he followed with a jumper at the 34 second mark to send the lead back to five with 34 seconds remaining. He finished the contest with 23 points and seven rebounds — both game highs — while Lynch added 19 points on six of eight shooting from the floor and seven for eight from the line. Kizel was the only other Panther to register double-digit points with 13, nine of which came in the second half. Wolfin, meanwhile, added seven assists though somewhat offset by his six turnovers. Middlebury once again struggled on the glass — a concerning sign without Ryan Sharry ’12 anchoring the middle of their defense — allowing 11 offensive rebounds to the Cardinals while being outrebounded 28-21 overall.
The Panthers returned to Pepin Gymnasium for their home opener against Southern Vermont (0-4). Middlebury opened the game on a 33-11 run en route to a 54-27 halftime lead. Lynch was nearly unstoppable in the low post once again, converting seven of nine attempts from the floor for 17 first-half points.
“Offensively I’m just trying to find the best shot possible,” Lynch said. “Not necessarily settling for [a shot] when there’s a defender on me, kicking [the ball] out and reposting and trying to get that single coverage when sometimes there’s a shorter guy guarding me.”
Kizel and Merryman each added eight points of their own, as each went two-for-two from beyond the arc. The story of the game, however, was Middlebury center Jack Roberts ’14 who scored a career-high 18 points on sinking nine of 10 shots. Roberts was equally dominant on the defensive end, swatting a game-high four shots.
“His aggressiveness and his ability to catch some of the passes that the guys laid up for him were the key,” Brown said. “Jack missed a portion of last year that interrupted [his] progress, but I see him growing and growing each week in practice and in our games.”
“Jack played great,” Lynch said. “I think the most improved thing with him since last year is that he’s keeping the ball up high instead of bringing it down. He’s 6’9’’ and no one is touching that ball and he just puts it right on the rim.
Merryman joined Lynch and Roberts as the only other Middlebury player to reach double digit points as the California native buried a third three pointer in the second half from well behind the arc, demonstrating the extent of his range. Merryman’s ability to stretch the floor will be a key to the team’s success in conference play when points inside the paint are harder to come by.
The Panthers return to action Sunday, Dec. 2, when they travel to Providence, R.I. where they will square off with Johnson and Wales.
(11/15/12 12:30am)
For the 21 seniors playing in their final collegiate game, Saturday’s 35-13 win over Tufts (0-8) was an unforgettable finish to a historic season. The game will be remembered for the records that were broken — wide receiver Zach Driscoll ’13 broke both the NESCAC single season receptions record as well as the conference’s single season touchdown record while quarterback Mac Foote ’14 surpassed Donnie McKillop’s ’10 single season NESCAC passing-yards mark — and for the highlight-reel plays made by a number of seniors. Driscoll, Josh Amster ’13 and tri-captain Billy Chapman ’13 all caught touchdown passes in their final game — with Chapman’s coming on what was, for all intents and purposes, Middlebury’s final offensive play of the season. Defensive captain John Wiet ’13, meanwhile, made the play of the year, recovering a fumble at the Middlebury 10-yard line and rumbling 65 yards before lateraling the ball while being tackled to defensive back Jared Onouye ’14 who took it the final 25 yards for the touchdown, cementing a 7-1 season for the Panthers.
Middlebury’s day fell just short of perfect as Trinity, who trailed much of the day at Wesleyan, forged an improbable comeback, ultimately winning in overtime, thereby completing an unbeaten season and ending Middlebury’s hopes at a share of the NESCAC title.
Tufts, who entered the game against Middlebury having lost 22 consecutive games, jumped out to an early lead, taking the opening drive of the game 65 yards on seven plays for a touchdown as John Dodds connected with Dylan Haas from 10 yards out. The score was set up by a 29-yard run on an end around from wide receiver Mike Howell.
Middlebury, which has struggled with slow starts all season long, quickly gave the ball back to the Jumbos, punting after picking up just one first down.
The Jumbos threatened to score again on the second drive, but on third-and-five from the Middlebury 25-yard line, Dodds’s pass intended for Haas was intercepted by defensive back Joel Blockowicz ’15 — his third pick of the season.
Foote and the offense found their rhythm on the second drive, as the NESCAC’s top passer accounted for all 67 yards on the drive. Middlebury was aided by a key pass interference call on third-and-short to pick up a first down in Jumbos territory. Foote then hit Driscoll for gains of 19 and 14 yards, the latter coming on a post route in the middle of the end zone to tie the game.
After the Panthers forced a turnover on downs deep in their own territory, Foote made his only mistake of the half, forcing a ball into coverage that was deflected into the secondary and intercepted. After playing bend-but-don’t-break defense on the Jumbos' previous two drives, the Panther defense made its first stand of the game, stuffing a third-and-one run as Tim Patricia ’16 made one his team-leading 10 tackles.
With 2:25 remaining in the first half Foote orchestrated a masterful drive, completing eight of nine passes covering 79 yards and a score in just 1:56. Driscoll caught three passes including a one-yard touchdown reception, breaking both records on the possession. On the touchdown play, Driscoll lined up on the far side of the field behind first-year wideout Matt Minno ’16 in what appeared to be a power run formation. Pre-snap, however, Driscoll came in motion into the slot before darting back towards the sideline as the ball was snapped and hauling in a low pass, perfectly placed by Foote.
“A lot of teams like to go man-to-man at the goal line, so we thought if we could get in motion, if they were in man we’d see it,” Driscoll said. “Meanwhile, I’d go in motion, keep carrying [my defender inside] and get his hips turned and then pop back out.”
Foote finished the half 23-32 from the air for 220 yards and two touchdowns in what was his most impressive half of the season.
“I felt really good in the beginning of the game,” Foote said. “They were only rushing three so it gave me a lot of time to find guys and I was able to hit some underneath routes.”
Middlebury extended its lead shortly after the break. Following stalled drives for both teams, Foote led a nine-play, 42-yard drive as much with his feet as with his arm. Facing third-and-nine from the Tufts 18-yard line, Foote escaped from a collapsing pocket, scampering to the sideline and absorbing a hit for a six-yard gain. On the next play — a fourth-and-three — Foote took off for the second time, lowering his helmet at the first down marker and falling forward for a crucial first down. After missing a wide-open Amster in the end zone on a sure touchdown pass, Foote connected with Amster on the next play, threading the needle between two Jumbos defenders in the back of the end zone.
Having conceded 21 straight points, the visitors responded, driving almost 70 yards in just over two minutes to cut the lead to eight. On the ensuing point after try, however, Patricia broke through the middle of the line, extending to block the kick.
Leading now by just one score, the Panthers worked their way down field as running back Remi Ashkar ’13 carried the ball four times for 26 yards on the drive. Two straight incompletions following a four-yard run from running back Matt Rhea ’14, however, brought on Jake Feury ’16 and the kicking team to attempt a 25-yard field goal. Middlebury failed to extend its lead, however, as Tufts first-year linebacker Matt McCormack broke through the line of scrimmage and blocked Feury’s low line drive kick.
The Jumbos and Panthers traded possessions with neither team able to pick up more than two first downs. Facing fourth-and-six from the Jumbos’ 39-yard line, Driscoll dropped an end-over-end punt at the five-yard line, which hopped into the arms of Dan Kenerson ’13 inside the one-yard line.
Undaunted, Tufts converted a third-and-long from the shadow of its own end zone, triggering three straight first down plays. Dodds and the Jumbos offense took 13 plays to go 89 yards into the Middlebury red zone, where it all went wrong for Tufts — as things tend to do during a 22-game losing streak — as Dodds and running back Jeff Weaver botched the exchange on a handoff, leading to a bouncing ball that was scooped up by Wiet.
“It was a quarterback draw and [Matt Crimmins ’14] forced the fumble and it squirted into the backfield where I happened to be,” Wiet said.
At his own 10-yard line, with nothing but daylight in front of him, Wiet took off, racing 65 yards before being dragged down by Tufts tight end Nick Kenyon. Alertly, albeit dangerously, Wiet twisted before hitting the ground and pitched the ball to Onouye who hopped over Kenyon and his fallen teammate and ran the final 25 yards for the score, sending the sideline and an enthusiastic crowd at Youngman Field into a frenzy.
“[Onouye] was attempting to block for me and [Kenyon] outran him,” Wiet said, “but I heard him off to my left saying, ‘Here to your left! Here to your left!’”
Trailing on the play, Onouye accurately determined that Kenyon was going to catch Wiet before he reached the end zone.
“I realized that [Wiet] was running out of gas,” Onouye said. “I moved to the left [which gave Kenyon] a chance, but I knew he’d pitch it to me because I’d been calling for it for a while and I knew he wanted the defense to score. After we scored I ran up to him and we just hugged each other but [we] were so tired that we didn’t actually say anything. We just went over to the sideline and called for water.”
Elated fans also wondered at Wiet’s decision to lateral the football.
“I had a few people come up to me after the play and ask me if [Wiet] was a rugby player because of his heads up play,” Chapman said. “That’s something I’ll never forget.”
The Tufts offense never recovered. Dodds threw three consecutive incompletions and the Jumbos punted the ball away on the next possession.
Middlebury added one final touchdown despite Rhea’s best attempts to run out the remainder of the clock as he carried the ball on eight of the first nine plays on the next drive for 36 yards. On third-and-eight, from the Tufts 43-yard line and just over two minutes remaining, however, Foote went to the air, finding Chapman down field for first down yardage. Chapman, sensing that it might be the final play of his career, broke a tackle and outran another defender to the pylon for the clinching score.
Fittingly, Chapman began his career with a very similar play.
“My freshman year, [in the] first game I played, we were up 38-0 against Colby — and I know [coach] Ritter was probably kicking himself — but we ran a play right down the middle and I caught a touchdown on a catch-and-run for 60 yards or so,” he said. “So this [time], as I was running, I thought, this isn’t really the best play for me to catch a ball. But he came back to me and one guy bounced off me and I thought ‘Alright, I can make a play here,’ so I ran for the corner of the end zone.”
Chapman’s touchdown proved to be the final offensive play of the season for the Panthers, save one final kneel down. The Panthers finished the season 7-1 for the first time since 2007 and made great strides both on offense and defense where they ranked second and third in scoring offense and scoring defense, respectively.
“It was a year of timely defense — we came up with stops [and] turnovers when we needed them,” said Wiet. “That final play was just a perfect example of the change our defense has made from last year to this year. We were opportunistic, we took advantage of other [teams’] mistakes, we caused turnovers and scored some points for our offense as well.”
The Middlebury defense has improved drastically under second-year defensive coordinator Doug Mandigo. The unit will be headlined going forward by Onouye, Blockowicz, who intercepted his third pass of the season Saturday, and safety Matthew Benedict ’15, who finished third on the team with 59 tackles. The strength of the team, however, will be the returning linebackers, including Tim Patricia ’16 who finished second in the conference in tackles and is a frontrunner for NESCAC Rookie of the Year.
On the other side of the ball, Offensive Player of the Year candidate Foote returns for his senior year with a number of rising stars at the wide receiver position including Brendan Rankowitz ’15, Minno and Harrison Goodkind ’16.
The most significant loss for the Panthers will most likely be on both the offensive and defensive line, where Middlebury will lose six starters, three starters on each side of the ball, including tri-captain Ryan Moores ’13. Moores is the leader of a group that allowed just five sacks all season, by far the fewest in the conference.
“They were really unbelievable,” said Foote. “They took pride in what they did. They didn’t ask for a lot of recognition, but they deserve all the credit in the world.”
(11/08/12 1:07am)
After a disappointing performance in Hartford, Conn. gave the football team its first loss on Oct. 31, the Panthers rebounded with a resounding 50-21 win over Hamilton in the “Old Rocking Chair Classic” on Saturday, Nov. 3. Quarterback Mac Foote ’14, who earned NESCAC Offensive Player of the Week honors for the third time this season, and wide receiver Zach Driscoll ’13 both set school records en route to the Panthers’ 17th consecutive victory over the Continentals. Foote finished the game with a career-high 456 yards passing while completing 40 of 58 attempts and five touchdown passes — the fourth time this season he has accomplished such a feat. The Newton, Mass. native finished the game with 27 touchdowns on the season, breaking both the Middlebury and the NESCAC single season touchdown records in the game, eclipsing Donnie McKillop’s ’11 school mark of 22 touchdowns in a season as well as Pat Moffitt’s (Williams) NESCAC single season record of 25 touchdowns. Foote also ran for a score, his second of the season.
“I couldn’t do anything without my teammates,” Foote said. “If one guy doesn’t block his guy on one play then I can’t do my job. It’s the ultimate team game and it’s special when we’re able to succeed as a unit.”
Driscoll, meanwhile, hauled in 14 receptions for 177 yards and a touchdown, breaking the Middlebury career receiving yard record previously set by Tom Cleaver ’04, becoming the first wide receiver in program history to eclipse the 2000-yard mark in a career. Driscoll is four catches, 128 yards and two touchdowns short of breaking the single season NESCAC records in each category.
“[Driscoll and Foote] are playing at a really high level,” said head coach Bob Ritter. “We’re expecting so much from them that when they have games like they did this past week, it’s almost taken for granted. And really what they’re doing is incredible.”
“I think from day one of preseason we started on the same page,” said Foote. “I know where he’s going to be when we run routes where he can adjust to coverages. Both of us have been in this offense for a while now and so we really understand what we need to do and where he needs to be and where I need to put the ball for him.”
Despite great field position on the Panthers’ opening drive, the Panthers failed to capitalize, punting after a quick three-and-out. Driscoll, however, punting from the Hamilton 41-yard line placed the ball inside the one-yard line. The defense forced the Continentals into their second straight three-and-out, giving the ball back 1:30 later to the offense at the 34-yard line in positive territory. Foote needed just one play on the second drive, finding Billy Chapman ’13 wide open at the 20-yard line with the big tight end doing the rest of the work, rumbling in for the opening score and his seventh of the season. Chapman finished the game with eight catches for 94 yards and the touchdown, earning a spot on the D3Football.com National Team of the Week for his performance.
The home team would tie the game three possessions later as Hamilton running back James Stanell broke off a 56-yard touchdown run up the middle, virtually untouched. Stanell showed that the Middlebury run defense still has work to do, carrying the ball 24 times for 129 yards after the unit was burned for 385 yards the week previously by Trinity. The Continentals as a team rushed for 202 yards on the day.
Though the game was tied at seven after the first quarter, Middlebury blew the game open in the second quarter, scoring on each of its three drives in the quarter. Foote keyed the drives with his most impressive play of the season, completing 14 of his first 15 passes — and 18 of 20 — to begin the second quarter including two touchdown passes.
With Brendan Rankowitz ’14 sidelined with an injury, first-year wide receiver Matt Minno ’16 took the place of the versatile second-year player and lost no time developing a rapport with Foote. Minno entered the game with just one career catch. Saturday, he had eight catches for 106 yards and three touchdowns, including back-to-back scores to begin the second quarter.
“He did a great job stepping in,” Ritter said of Minno. “That’s not an easy role for a first-year to step in towards the end of the season and be in a spot where the ball goes a lot. The way our game plan was set, the ball was going to go to [him] a lot and he responded really well. Most of his catches were tough catches, in traffic or thrown to a spot where only he could catch it.”
On the opening drive of the quarter, Foote wove together an 11-play, 85-yard touchdown drive, spreading the ball to four different receivers with surgical precision, completing nine of 10 passes, culminating in a 19-yard fade route to Minno for the score.
The Middlebury defense followed in suit, forcing a three-and-out, highlighted by Jimmy Tilson’s ’13 stuff of Stanell behind the line of scrimmage on third-and-two. Driscoll gave the Panthers good starting field position once again, returning a 40-yard punt from Hamilton punter Garret Hoy 12 yards to the Middlebury 34-yard line.
Foote then connected on four straight passes, connecting twice with Driscoll for gains of 23 and 21 yards on consecutive plays, advancing to the Continentals’ 22-yard line. After a failed screen pass to running back Matt Rhea ’14 lost two yards, Foote found Minno over the middle at the five-yard line. Minno evaded two defenders, spinning his way into the end zone for the touchdown, extending the Middlebury first half lead to 21-7.
“He’s a great talent,” said Foote. “I’m really excited about him not only for this game, but in seasons to come. He’s a really tall kid, can run well, great hands and has a good understanding of our offense which is impressive for a [first-year].”
On the other side of the ball, the defense once again held the Hamilton offense in check, conceding just one first down and nearly coming away with a turnover when linebacker Matt Crimmins ’14 stripped wide receiver Simon Jia of the football but could not come up with the recovery. The defense forced a punt with three minutes left in the half, giving the ball back to the offense with 2:56 remaining and the football at the 20-yard line.
Foote found five different receivers including Josh Amster ’13 and William Sadik-Khan ’15 on the ensuing drive, which stalled when Foote threw three consecutive incomplete passes from the Hamilton eight-yard line, ending an incredible stretch of 18 completions in 20 attempts. First-year kicker Jake Feury ’16 connected on a 25-yard field goal, his fourth of the season, giving Middlebury a 24-7 lead at the half.
The break did nothing to slow the Middlebury offense, which scored touchdowns on each of the first two drives of the third quarter. Foote capped of a nine-play 63-yard drive in just under two-and-half minutes by scampering into the end zone from four yards out on third-and-three for his second rushing touchdown of the season.
The defense, which held the Continentals to just 54 yards in the second quarter, gave the ball right back to the offense as Dan Kenerson intercepted Hamilton quarterback Jordan Eck’s first pass of the second half, giving the opportunistic defensive back four interceptions on the season.
“He did a nice job rerouting his guy and being in coverage,” Ritter said of Kenerson’s interception. “We forced [Eck] out of the pocket so he was forced to make a throw on the run and [Kenderson] did a nice job sitting in the zone, reading the quarterback’s eyes and [made] a nice break on the ball.”
On the Panthers’ subsequent possession, Foote connected with Minno on a key fourth-and-one play from the Hamilton 33-yard line for 17 yards and wasted no time going right back to his first-year target, finding Minno in the side of the end zone for a 16-yard touchdown throw and catch as Minno demonstrated great body control keeping his feet in the field of play as he secured possession of the football.
“I didn’t really know what to expect in my first college game, but I was pretty confident and definitely happy with the way things worked out,” Minno said. “I just tried to stay dialed in, make sure I was running the right routes and make plays for my team.”
Hamilton responded by making a run of their own, scoring touchdowns on consecutive drives to cut the Middlebury lead to 16 at the end of the third quarter as Eck threw for one touchdown and ran for another.
That was as close as the Continentals would come, however, as the Panthers opened the fourth quarter with consecutive touchdown drives as Foote threw his fifth touchdown of the game, this time to Driscoll who had four catches for 45 yards on the drive. The visitors tacked on one more touchdown on the subsequent possession as Rhea ran for 34 yards, adding 11 more through the air and scoring the Panthers’ seventh and final touchdown of the game on a 20-yard run. Middlebury’s 50-point performance on Saturday was the team’s highest scoring game since a 55-31 win over Hamilton in 2003.
The Panthers return home Saturday, Nov. 10 for the team’s final game of the season against Tufts. The Jumbos are winless in their last 21 games.
(11/07/12 11:12pm)
“I can be fair and impartial.”
Every member of the judicial board — academic or community — must say those words before each hearing commences. If last week’s Community Judicial Board hearing involving the Dalai Lama Welcoming Committee (DLWC) is any indication, however, certain members of the board take their oath with as little sincerity as many students take to signing the honor code.
This is not meant to be an uncompromising criticism of the judicial board. I served on the Academic Judicial Board for a year and the task of the judiciary is not easy. It is made that much harder when the board’s process is being observed by an arena brimming with people, many of whom are not impartial. Open hostility and a seeming lack of preparation, however, are inexcusable no matter the extenuating circumstances.
The mistakes made by the board were blatant and repetitive. At times the board’s line of questioning assumed guilt on the part of the respondents. At others, it was the wording used by members of the board that betrayed their lack of impartiality, bordering on the point of intimidation. On separate occasions faculty members of the board made their feelings toward the respondents apparent. Once by referring to the five individuals as “you people” and the second time by confirming the group’s assertion that the “Coming Clean” letter was the only reason Jenny Marks ’14.5 had been called in front of the board by saying “we have nothing on Jenny,” implying that the board had considerable evidence against the other members. These are hardly indications of a neutral group.
Watching from the seats in Dana Auditorium, it seemed as if a combination of bias and a lack of preparation led to the mistakes and antics of the group. The most egregious moment happened early in the hearing when another faculty member — are you noticing a trend? — asked the respondents why they thought charges had been brought against them in this case, but not last spring when the group and others dressed up as the Board of Trustees outside Old Chapel during a board meeting. Such a question should never have been asked or permitted as it leaves the respondent caught between not answering the question and self-incrimination. A court of law — and I know the judicial board is not a court of law — would not allow a question asking a defendant why he or she was sitting in court on that day, but not on some previous day. The respondents answered in the only way they could: by telling the questioner that it was the job of the board to determine why charges had been brought against the DLWC leading to the hearing.
And the board needed further reminding of their duties. Twice student members of the board had to pause questioning to remind the respondents, the audience and their colleagues that they were indeed fair and impartial. In doing so, the board confirmed what had been apparent from the early stages of the trial — that certain individuals held less regard for fundamental fairness and impartiality than others. And then there was the structure of the trial, which, without a number of reminders and prompts from Associate Dean for Judicial Affairs and Student Life Karen Guttentag, would have passed over key elements of the trial, such as the closing remarks for both parties.
The open hearing on Nov. 1 exposed the best and the worst aspects of the College’s judicial system. While cooler heads ultimately prevailed — and the faculty and student members should be commended for their perseverance over the course of a marathon case after which they ultimately came to what most, it seems, believe is a fair and accurate punishment — the first three to four hours of the case were tense, awkward and at times utterly unnecessary. While the board acts as a whole, and therefore should be judged in its entirety, it is important to note that it was primarily the student members who best demonstrated neutrality throughout the course of the hearing, and when the back-and-forth between the respondents and the judiciary was at its nadir, the student members of the board stopped the discussion from derailing entirely.
While both the academic and community judicial boards are likely to feel less pressure in the future due to the nature of the issue and the format, last week’s hearing presents a considerable dilemma going forward. In a system that makes determinations of guilt or innocence based upon the preponderance of evidence, or “more-guilty-than-not,” a fair and impartial judiciary is of the utmost importance. Further, when a decision hinges upon an individual’s interpretation of what satire is or what constitutes an all-school email, the board’s neutrality cannot be in question. And while I believe the board made the correct ruling and offered an appropriate sentence, to suggest that the ends justify the means here would be to accept the very reasoning the board rejected during the hearing.
For Middlebury’s judicial system — where the message is inextricably tied to the method — to remain effective in the future, therefore, all members of the board must approach cases valuing the importance that neutrality plays in fundamental fairness.
(10/31/12 8:38pm)
The outspoken and oft-controversial University of Connecticut women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma made headlines again last week advocating that the NCAA should lower the rims in women’s college basketball in order to make the game more popular. Auriemma’s comments created a firestorm of responses on both sides of the issue ranging from open support to fiery opposition that went as far as to call his comments sexist.
Auriemma argued that his idea is consistent with other discrepancies in men’s and women’s sports. The net in women’s volleyball is shorter than the net in the men’s game; tee boxes in women’s golf are closer to the hole; and the women’s basketball is smaller and lighter than the men’s ball. Auriemma also cited the difference in height between the average men’s player and the average women’s player, which he estimated to be about six inches. Mustering all the political skill he could, the winningest male coach in women’s basketball suggested that the rims should be lowered 7.2 inches in honor of Title IX, which was passed in 1972 and is celebrating its 40th anniversary.
While Auriemma can use whatever rhetoric he wishes, many, including junior guard Sarah Marcus ’14, believe that lowering the rims would hurt the women’s game.
“Trying to popularize a sport to the degree of its male counterpart would perpetuate the male-dominated power structure that exists within society,” said Marcus. “By lowering the rims, the NCAA would be telling women that men are inherently better at the sport.”
“To [improve] the level of play in women’s basketball we need not further the separation that exists between the men’s and women’s game, but rather encourage a union between the two games,” she continued. “The women’s game will only get more exciting when girls become less afraid to play basketball with the guys, not when it is made more difficult.”
Perhaps it is impossible to look beyond the immediate juxtaposition between men’s and women’s basketball, but I believe that Auriemma’s suggestion has merit. Pushing aside, for a moment, the differences between women’s and men’s abilities — an argument certain to draw strong, polarized views — Auriemma’s is most convincing when you look at women’s basketball through the lens of sports in America more broadly.
Athletics, college and professional, men’s and women’s, is about making money. And in the 21st century, the demand for more scoring and greater pace of play has driven every league in the United States to change the way the game is played and officiated.
Long before player safety became one of the NFL’s top priorities, the league rewrote the rulebook limiting what is considered legal contact, thereby incentivizing more passing and ultimately creating the up-tempo, high-scoring game we watch today. In the MLB, multiple teams have opted to move their fences closer to home plate, heeding the cries of fans and players who want to see more runs scored and fewer pitching duels — once considered the pinnacle of the sport. The emphasis on allowing greater scoring is most blatant in the NBA where defenders are not allowed to spend three straight seconds in the key, traveling is like an infomercial — often seen, but rarely called — and the continuation rule allows players to make “and-one” plays seconds after the foul takes place. Even college basketball has followed suit. Last year the NCAA implemented the cylinder area underneath the basket, outlining where players are restricted from taking charges — a rule dissuading good help defense and encouraging more NBA-style finishes.
Auriemma’s idea, therefore, should not be dismissed summarily because it creates a greater distinction between the men’s and women’s game. If Auriemma’s idea is struck down, it should be on the basis that it would drastically alter the shooting mechanics of women players — something that Marcus noted as well — or because having different sized hoops for men and women is infeasible.
I cannot agree, however, that different sized hoops creates greater gender inequality.We will achieve total gender equality not when we eliminate the differences between genders, but rather when we fully understand and accept those differences. Arguing for lower rims is no more an indictment of women than calling for smaller ballpark dimensions is of men. Auriemma’s idea should be considered on its merits, not dismissed on its assumptions.
Written by DAMON HATHEWAY ’13.5, a sports editor of London, UK
(10/31/12 8:31pm)
The football team’s run at a perfect season came screeching to a halt Saturday in Hartford, Conn. where the Panthers (5-1) were mauled 45-7 by Trinity (6-0). With the blowout victory, the Bantams extended their home winning streak to 46 games — the longest such streak in the nation.
The Middlebury offense, which has struggled at times with slow starts this season, never got in rhythm and failed to score in the first half for the first time this season. Quarterback Mac Foote ’14 was intercepted on the first two drives of the game and finished the game with a season-low 133 yards as a combination of accuracy issues, drops by his receivers and a dominant Trinity defense resulted in the passer’s worst performance in his Middlebury career.
Meanwhile, the defense also foundered. Though the unit had made significant strides after a dismal 2011 season in which they finished last in the league, they returned to dismal form on Saturday, giving up big plays and failing to make tackles. The Trinity offense had their way with a defense that had allowed just 14 points per game entering the day. The Panthers conceded 585 total yards — 385 of which came on the ground. Trinity running backs Evan Bunker and Ben Crick ran roughshod over the Middlebury defense, which allowed a season worst six plays of 20-plus yards, five of which were plays of 40 yards or more.
“The reason why our defense has been so successful is [because] we’ve really limited big plays,” said head coach Bob Ritter. “That’s been the biggest difference between our defense this year and last year. And in this game we gave up way too many big plays.”
In a game between the NESCAC’s final pair of unbeaten teams with heavy implications for the league title, Trinity left little doubt who the conference’s top team is.
The Panthers quickly found themselves in a hole as Trinity kicked a field goal on its opening drive. Then, on Middlebury’s first possession of the game — the only time the visitors were within one score — Foote’s pass on second-and-five, which was intended for Billy Chapman ’13 deflected off the tight end’s foot and into the waiting arms of Bantams’ linebacker Stephen Goniprow. The Bantams struck quickly on the ensuing drive, scoring on the third play on a 59-yard touchdown pass over the top of the Middlebury secondary. The long catch and run came on third-and-21 after the Panthers sacked Trinity quarterback Ryan Burgess and stopped Crick for a three-yard loss. The score gave the home team a 10-0 lead just seven-and-a-half minutes into the game as the Bantams proceeded to score 31 unanswered points in the first half and the first 38 of the game.
Already trailing by double digits the Middlebury offense managed to move the ball on its second possession, driving into the red zone as part of an 11-play, 51-yard drive. On first-and-10 from the Bantams 19-yard line, however, Foote threw his second interception, this time in the end zone targeting wide receiver Brendan Rankowitz ’15 on a deep out route.
Instead, Trinity cornerback Nick Campbell broke underneath the route for his second interception of the season.
Crick and Bunker carried the load much of the rest of the way offensively as the two dynamic runners combined for 363 yards of total offense and five touchdowns.
After trailing 31-0 at the half, things only got worse for Middlebury.
Facing a third-and-26 from the team’s own 34-yard line, Trinity head coach Jeff Devanney opted to run the football despite the imposing down and distance. On a stretch play to the left, Crick cut up field, shaking off an arm tackle at the line of scrimmage and bursting into the secondary. After nearly losing his footing, he hop-stepped around two diving defenders near the original line of scrimmage and broke another tackle at the first-down marker before scampering the remaining 20 yards into the end zone giving the Bantams a 38-0 lead.
“At each turn where we had a chance to make a big play and turn the momentum, both offensively and defensively, we didn’t come up with one and when they needed [a big play] they came up with it,” said Ritter.
The Middlebury offense finally ended its scoring drought on the next drive as Foote pieced together an eight-play, 75-yard drive, which featured completions to four different receivers. The possession culminated in an 18-yard touchdown pass to Zach Driscoll ’13. Driscoll finished the game with five receptions for 52 yards and a touchdown — far below his 156 yards per game receiving average entering the game.
The Bantams responded, however, as Burgess, who finished the game nine for 16 for 193 yards and two scores, orchestrated a six-play, 77-yard drive. Bunker capped off the drive and the day with an 11-yard touchdown run on his first carry of the second half.
At the beginning of the fourth quarter, with the game out of hand, the Panthers’ backups replaced the starters. Second-string quarterback Matt Milano ’16 was effective in his first career collegiate quarter, passing for 74 yards on nine of 14 attempts and narrowly missed throwing his first-career touchdown pass. Big tight-end Daniel Finta ’15 was also impressive, hauling in three passes for 24 yards receiving in limited action.
All is not lost for the Panthers who, Saturday’s debacle aside, have enjoyed their most successful season since 2007. And while a shot at a NESCAC title looks grim, Middlebury would share a three-way tie for the title if Amherst (5-1) beats Trinity this Saturday and all three teams finish the season 7-1. Ritter and his team, however, are only focused on the game in front of them.
“Week to week we have a chance to go out as a group and play a game that we love and that really is the core of what we’re doing,” he said.
The Panthers travel this weekend to Hamilton, N.Y. to play Hamilton (1-5).
“Our guys are anxious to get going and get the taste out of our mouth," said Ritter. “We’re fortunate that wasn’t our last game. We have a chance to go out there and play at the level that I think we’re capable of.”
(10/25/12 3:21am)
In front of a capacity crowd on alumni weekend at Youngman Field on Saturday, Oct. 20, the football team overcame a slow start to improve to 5-0 with a 38-23 win over Bates (2-3). There were plenty of fireworks in the team’s narrowest win of the season thus far, and none bigger than wide receiver Zach Driscoll 13’s record breaking performance.
Driscoll, who entered the game with 128 career receptions, needed 10 catches to break the all-time Middlebury receptions record, previously held by A.J. Husband ’98. On the Panthers’ first possession of the third quarter, the Concord, Mass. native did just that, hauling in his 10th reception of the game and the 38th of his brilliant career, on a six-yard pass from quarterback Mac Foote ’14. Driscoll, who was named NESCAC Player of the Week following a 12-catch, 250-yard, three-touchdown performance in Middlebury’s 40-13 win over Williams the week previously, followed that with a career high 15 catches for 203 yards and two touchdowns. Driscoll also broke the Middlebury single season record for touchdown catches with his 10th and 11th scores of the season, eclipsing the previous mark of nine, held jointly by Phil Pope ’71, Beau Coash ’81 and Andrew Varney ’83.
“I like being as involved [in the offense] as possible,” said Driscoll of his performance. “I’ll take hits if it means making a play. We’ve been through enough pain and suffering over the past three years … the records and stuff are great … but it’s all about the game. I’d trade all the records for 8-0 any day.”
In the early going, however, it was running back Remi Ashkar ’13 and the Middlebury rushing attack that got the offense in rhythm. Ashkar rushed for 69 yards in the first half, 45 of which came in the first quarter. The 5’11’’, 205-pound running back set the tone early, converting on a fourth-and-one on the team’s opening drive, lowering his shoulder and picking up seven yards on the play.
“Our offensive line did a great job of getting some push up front to allow [Ashkar] that initial burst,” said head coach Bob Ritter, “and then he did a really nice job of picking and finding some open space.”
“Fourth-and-one plays are obviously very crucial for keeping the drive alive,” Ashkar said. “My mentality going into these types of plays is to see where the offensive line sets up its blocks, then find the hole and burst through it.”
The team, however, could not capitalize on its early success running the ball as Foote and Driscoll were a step out of sync. Foote overthrew his top receiver twice with Driscoll running free behind the defense. Then, on the 11th play of the drive from the Bates 21-yard line, targeting Driscoll once again, Foote was intercepted in the end zone.
“In the type of offense that we run there’s going to be some overthrows, some incompletions … that’s part of it,” Ritter said. “It’s important that you don’t overreact one way or the other to some of those things. Certainly [Foote] finds a rhythm and is very accurate when it’s all said and done. We don’t change things or overreact to things at the start … We just try to stay consistent with what we’re doing offensively.”
Already trailing 7-0 after allowing the first opening drive touchdown of the season, the Middlebury defense found an answer to the Bobcats’ triple option offense on the second series, forcing Bates to punt after picking up just one first down.
Taking the field for the second time with the ball at the Middlebury 37-yard line, the offense leaned again on Ashkar who had four of the first five touches on the drive, accounting for 32 yards. After a Middlebury personal foul backed the Panthers up to the Bates 35-yard line, Foote finally connected with Driscoll, lofting a high-arching ball down the field placed perfectly over the cornerback in underneath coverage and before the safety in zone coverage could get to the ball. Driscoll caught the ball in stride, stepped out of the grasp of the lunging safety and tight-roped his way into the end zone against the sideline, tying the game and breaking the single season touchdown record.
“It was a press corner look so they were in Cover Two,” explained Driscoll. “I knew that corner would try to hold the flat and get a jam on me and use [his] outside leverage. [Foote] and I had talked during the week that if they bring that guy down with outside leverage — [normally] I’m supposed to run an out on that play and get the [first down] — but when I have that outside leverage we worked on me jab stepping him [to the] outside and getting on the inside. We had practiced that enough times this week that [Foote] and I were right on the same page. He threw a perfect ball right over that defender and I was there.”
The defense forced a punt after conceding just one first down again on the ensuing Bates drive as Bobcats head coach Mark Harriman elected to punt facing fourth-and-one from the Middlebury 38-yard line.
The Panthers failed to take advantage of the Bobcats conservative play calling as their third drive of the game stalled at the Middlebury 47-yard line. The visitors fared no better, however, as a 13-yard reception by first-year wideout Harrison Murphy at midfield was negated by offensive pass interference, creating second-and-23 for the Bobcats at their own 22-yard line; three plays later, Bates was punting again.
After a second personal foul penalty — this one called against the sideline on the punt — pushed the Panthers inside their 20-yard line, the offense began to operate in earnest as Foote engineered a nine-play, 84-yard touchdown drive in three minutes. Foote found four different receivers on the drive, which culminated in a two-yard touchdown pass to first-year receiver Harrison Goodkind ’16, the first of his Middlebury career.
The Bobcats responded in kind, however, using 4:24 of clock on a touchdown drive of their own as quarterback Trevor Smith and running back Patrick George ran the triple option with clinical precision. The play of the drive came on third-and-10 from the Bates 40-yard line when Smith appeared to be sacked in the backfield. Instead, the dual threat quarterback bounced off the tackle, changed direction and, throwing across his body, found Murphy for a 17-yard gain. George, meanwhile, converted a crucial third-and-two from the Middlebury 35-yard line, ripping off a 21-yard run — the longest of the game for either team. Three plays later, on third-and-10, Smith found wide receiver Shawn Doherty open in the flat. Doherty promptly cut back across the field, against the flow of the defense into the end zone. It was the first of two touchdowns for the slot wide receiver, who led Bates with five catches for 50 yards in addition to the pair of scores.
The Panthers found a spark on the subsequent kickoff as Brendan Rankowitz ’15 returned the ball 26 yards to the Middlebury 38-yard line. With good starting field position, the Panthers needed just 2:06 to reclaim the lead as Foote found tight end Billy Chapman ’13 from 11 yards out to give Middlebury a 21-14 lead with 1:16 remaining in the first half.
As it turned out, the offense scored too quickly as Bates marched 55 yards on 11 plays before attempting a 27-yard field goal with three seconds remaining, which kicker Charlie Donahue converted to cut the Bobcats’ deficit to four at the half.
That was as close as the Bobcats would come, however, as Middlebury opened the second half with two touchdowns in 5:29, extending the lead to 35-17. On the opening kickoff of the second half, Rankowitz found a seam on the left side of his blockers, returning the ball 38 yards to the Middlebury 45-yard line. On second-and-two from the Bates 16-yard line, Foote connected again with Chapman in the back of the end zone, extending the Middlebury lead to 11.
The Panthers then caught a break as kicker Jake Feury ’16’s short kickoff was muffed at the 20-yard line and unintentionally booted forward to the 40-yard line where Feury fell on the ball. On the second play from scrimmage, Foote hit Driscoll for a six-yard catch over the middle, breaking the record previously set by Husband in 1998. Driscoll then caught the very next pass and two more on the drive, including a two-yard touchdown catch.
Despite leading by 18 with 9:31 left in the third quarter and holding the Bobcats without a score the remainder of the quarter, Middlebury was unable to put Bates away. On the third play of the fourth quarter Foote was intercepted for the second time of the game, this time on an errant throw over the middle. For the first time in the game, the Bobcats were able to cash in on a Middlebury mistake as Smith capped of a six-play 47-yard drive with a 30-yard completion to Doherty, who scampered past the Middlebury defense and into the end zone.
After a Middlebury three-and-out it appeared Bates might have an avenue back into the game. But with 10:13 remaining in the fourth quarter, the Panthers’ defense finally made a play. On first-and-10 from the Bates 39-yard line, Smith took a deep shot on a double move. Sophomore cornerback Joel Blockowicz ’15, who made six tackles and broke up two more passes, bit on the fake, but recovered excellently to make a tremendous play on the ball in the air, leaping up to make the interception.
The game appeared over, particularly when Rankowitz made a spectacular leaping grab at the two-yard line on a jump ball for a 43-yar gain. Instead, the Panthers fumbled on first-and-goal, fortunately recovered by Foote, which set up a 27-yard field goal for a 15-point lead. Feury converted the kick, improving to three for five on the season and extending the Middlebury lead to 38-23.
Still trailing by just two scores, Bates failed on three consecutive passing plays and elected to punt the ball back to the Panthers who successfully ran out the clock.
The game was particularly successful for the Middlebury backfield as Ashkar finished the game with 106 rushing yards — the first time he has broken the century mark on the ground this season. Foote, meanwhile, finished the game with 436 yards passing and five touchdowns, albeit accompanied by two interceptions, and was awarded the NESCAC Player of the Week award as a result, his second of the season.The Panthers’ offensive line, meanwhile, received some much deserved recognition as the unit was named to the D3 Football Team of the Week. For the third time in five games, the offensive line did not allow a sack and this time was able to spring Ashkar for long gains in between, as well.
Defensively, the captain of the unit John Wiet ’13 led the way with 15 total tackles along with Matthew Beniedict ’13, while first-year middle linebacker Tim Patricia ’16 managed 12 tackles including one for a loss and a pass break up, which he nearly intercepted.
All in all it was an up-and-down performance for the defense, which played considerably better in the second half, allowing just six points. The team was uncharacteristically soft against the run, however, allowing 219 rushing yards at 4.6 yards per carry.
The defense will have to make adjustments as it plans for Trinity (5-0). The Bantams boast the NESCAC’s top rushing game, averaging nearly 300 yards per game at a 5.3 yards per carry clip. The game features the final remaining undefeated teams in the conference and will most likely determine the winner of the NESCAC championship.
“It’s always a big game when we play Trinity,” Ritter said. “They’re awfully tough period, but they’re particularly tough at home. I told our guys that this is a great opportunity — it’s really exciting to go down there and compete and we’ll be ready.”
“If we can be sharp in practice, show a lot of energy, get to our spots and run our routes, we’ll be very hard to stop,” Driscoll said.
(10/18/12 2:10am)
As the regular season winds down for all but one of the fall sports, Middlebury has maintained its dominance in the NESCAC making a strong push in the first trimester of its defense of the Directors’ Cup. The football team — 4-0 for the first time since 1992 — and the top-ranked, 12-0 field hockey team headline the group, while the women’s soccer and volleyball teams are both a game out of first place in the conference. Only the men’s soccer team has struggled this season, falling into eighth place in the NESCAC after a rash of injuries and hard luck in front of net. But the men haven’t lost in their last four games, with two wins and a draw against NESCAC opponents keeping their postseason chances alive. The cross country teams, meanwhile, continue to outrun the competition as the fifth-ranked women and 17th-ranked men prepare for the NESCAC Championships and the NCAA Tournament. The tennis teams are set to wrap up a successful fall season, which was highlighted by Lok Sze Leung ’15’s return to the ITA Finals. Also looking forward to the spring season are the men’s and women’s golf teams, both of which hope to enjoy successful postseason tournament success in the spring. It’s all about the here and now, however, for …
1) The football team, which beat Williams for the first time with head coach Bob Ritter at the helm, ending a streak of 11 consecutive losses against the Ephs dating back to 2001. With the win, Middlebury matched its best start in two decades since the ’92 team began the season 5-0. Zach Driscoll ’13 is proving that he is one of the top wide receivers in Division III football, earning NESCAC Player of the Week honors for the second time this season with 12 catches for 250 yards and three touchdowns in the win. Driscoll is third among Division III wide receivers with 144.5 yards receiving per game.
“Coach Ritter has done an amazing job of finding ways to get me matched up in favorable situations,” Driscoll said. “I think [Mac Foote ’14] has faith in my ability to get open, and I know I can trust him to make a great throw when we get the look we want. Any time you have that kind of relationship between a quarterback and receiver, you have a much better chance of executing on a big play.”
While Foote and Driscoll have lit up scoreboards, the defense has been the biggest difference this season, improving from worst to first in the NESCAC in points allowed. A unit that gave up more than 31 points per game last season has allowed fewer than 12 at the halfway mark of the 2012 season. The unit’s turn around cannot be attributed to any one player: in the win over Williams, senior defensive back Dan Kenerson ’13 had three interceptions to lead the way; linebacker Tim Patricia ’16 leads the team in tackles in his first collegiate season; and defensive captain John Wiet ’13 and Matt Crimmins ’14 have turned the unit into a big-play, ball-hawking defense.
“Our defense is playing with a lot of confidence in each other,” said head coach Bob Ritter. “They are trusting each other to do their assignments, which allows them to focus on what they need to do themselves.”
A smothering defense with an explosive offense is a formula for success beyond football, demonstrated by …
2) The field hockey team, which has played flawlessly in the month of October, outscoring its five opponents an astounding 36-0 en route to the number one spot in the Division III polls. On Saturday, Oct. 13, 12th-ranked Trinity became the latest victim left in the Panthers’ wake, as Alyssa DiMaio’15 scored on either side of the half to drive Middlebury’s 4-0 win over the Bantams. Middlebury has beaten five top-15 teams by a combined score of 16-5.
“We have had success against top-ranked teams because we score goals early and set the tone and because we posses the ball as a team,” said tri-captain Lauren Greer ’13.
While Greer provides much of the firepower for the offense, the team has found greater balance this season with Greer accounting for 35.9 percent of the team’s goals compared to 44.8 percent last year. The senior forward still leads the NESCAC, however, with 57 points on the season, 25 better than anyone else. Katherine Theiss ’14, meanwhile, is second on the team in scoring and third in the conference and senior goaltender Madeline Brooks ’13 is second in the NESCAC in goals allowed, having conceded just five goals to conference opponents and nine total on the season. Brooks is on pace to break the school record for goals allowed, averaging 0.57 per game a hair under the program’s best mark of 0.70. With all the pieces falling into place, the field hockey team has its sight set on a return to the NCAA Finals, somewhere …
3) The women’s soccer team would love to go. A year after falling in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament, the Panthers have a great opportunity to go even further in 2012. The team opened the season undefeated through its first nine games — the only blemish a 0-0 draw against 12th-ranked Amherst. Oct. 17 the women lost their first game of the year, 1-0 at Connecticut College, but have responded with two 2-1 wins against Trinity and Skidmore, the latter coming in double overtime. After posting shutouts in each of the first six games, however, Middlebury has managed just two in its last six games. Junior striker Scarlett Kirk ’14, who scored both goals in the Panthers victory over Skidmore, leads the team with six goals on the season. The team as a whole, however, averages just 1.6 goals per game, good for just sixth in the conference, despite goals from 11 different scorers.
“Our team has been focusing on improving our finishing in the final third,” said co-captain Amy Schlueter ’13. “We want [to] dominate our opponents through our shutout defense, our composed passing and our focused finishing.”
While the offense has struggled at times, the Panthers are led by the NESCAC’s best defense, which has allowed a stingy 0.32 goals per game. Junior goalkeeper Elizabeth Foody ’14 has played a large role in the Panthers’ defensive success, leading the conference with a .941 save percentage having conceded just two goals in 12 games played.
“I don't think we have hit our high point yet this season — I think it is yet to come,” Kirk said. “The loss [to Conn. College] reminded us of what we need to work on going forward and the importance of finishing our chances.”
Losing to Connecticut College also spurred on the …
4) The volleyball team, winners of nine of their last 11 after falling in consecutive games to the Camels and the Coast Guard. Middlebury is 14-5 with less than two weeks remaining in the season and one win away from matching last season’s 15-5 record through the first 20 games. The team is hoping for a repeat of the late season magic from 2011, which culminated with an appearance in the NESCAC title game and two wins in the NCAA Tournament — the deepest run made by the team in the program’s history. This year’s squad has been led by a triumvirate of outside hitters in Amy Hart ’14, Megan Jarchow ’14 and Olivia Kolodka ’15, each of whom average well over two kills per set and three in the case of Hart who is third in the conference in kills and second in service aces. The success of the aerial attack has its foundation in the defensive play and distribution of libero and tri-captain Caitlin Barrett ’13 and setter Julia Gibbs ’13. Barrett leads the NESCAC in digs per set with 5.28, more than half a dig better than Anna Brown of Hamilton, second in the conference with 4.7 per set. Gibbs, meanwhile, leads the team in assists with eight per frame. The team’s strong senior leadership and young talent could propel Middlebury back to the NESCAC title game, a feat …
5) The men’s soccer team failed to accomplish last season for the first time since 2005, losing in double overtime to Amherst in the NESCAC semifinals after a turbulent regular season. The 2012 season certainly has seen its share of highs and lows. After four straight games without a loss, the 6-4-1 Panthers sit in seventh place in the conference standings. Before this spell of good form, however, the team was held scoreless in three straight conference losses that had them on the brink of last place in the league.
The offensive turnaround can be traced back to a stunning win at Castleton State on the 2nd of this month, when the combination of Sam Peisch ’13.5 and Ben Tabah ’13 along with a Castleton own goal, helped Middlebury claim a 3-0 victory, all in the final 12 minutes of the game. Since the win at their Vermont rivals, the Panthers have witnessed the emergence of second-year players Harper Williams ’15 and Dan Skayne ’15 in the midfield, who were integral to a 2-0 win at Hamilton on October 6. Alvand Hajizadeh ’13 also re-discovered his scoring touch at Trinity Saturday, Oct. 13, netting his fourth goal of the season and his first since Sept. 16 in a game at Plymouth State. Hajizadeh leads the team (and is eighth in the conference) in scoring with four goals and two assists.
Goalkeeper Zach Abdu-Glass ’13, meanwhile, has played every minute in net for the Panthers, and holds a save percentage of .840 with four shutouts.
While the men’s soccer team fights to save its season …
6) The cross country teams rest in preparation of the beginning of their true season with the NESCAC, ECAC and NCAA Tournaments in consecutive weeks. Seniors Addie Tousley ’13 and Jack Davies ’13, co-captain of the men’s team, pace their respective teams as both runners took first place in the St. Michael’s Invitational on Friday, Oct. 13 — the last prep race before the final three races at the end of the season.
“We’re taking this weekend off, which is our first weekend all year,” said Davies. “We’ve moved out of our base phase, we’re not doing any speed [and we’re] cutting the actual distance we [run] in a week, which gets your legs fresh.”
Both the men and women have set a high standard, finishing 13th and second in the NCAA Tournament in 2011, respectively. Finishing as the runner up is a tremendous accomplishment as many members of the …
7) The tennis teams undoubtedly told Lok Sze Leung ’15 who fell just short of defending her ITA singles title, which she claimed last fall as a first-year. Leung was defeated in the 2012 finals 5-7, 6-3, 6-4 by Gabrielle Clark of Emory who Leung has already competed against four times in less than two years including in last season’s ITA singles finals and the singles finals of the NCAA Tournament, which the sophomores split.
“I enjoy playing against Gabbie [Clark] more and more now,” said Leung. “It is fun to have this rivalry because it is one of the reasons that motivates me to work harder every day. It is kind of like a Federer-Nadal thing ... I know how much both of us hate losing to each other, but I respect [her] as an athlete and an opponent — she is very talented and is a fighter.”
Though Leung did not complete the repeat, both the men’s and women’s teams have a promising spring season to look forward to after the conclusion of the fall schedule. The men’s team received a boost from junior transfer Alex Johnston ’14 and first-year Jackson Frons ’16, among others. Senior Spencer Lunghino ’13 will be one component of a strong senior class who will lead the team in the spring, aided by the return of ITA All-American Brantner Jones ’14 for the spring season.
On the women’s side, first-year Ria Gerger ’16 gave people reason to be excited for the future of the women’s tennis team, as she advanced to the ITA Regional Finals where she lost to Leung. Gerger advanced to the finals with relative ease before being knocked off by her teammate in straight sets. In addition to the impressive group of rising underclassmen, senior Leah Kepping ’13 had a strong showing in the fall, displaying the versatility of her game with success in both singles and doubles. The fall season will come to a close with home matches for both teams in the next two weeks, but for the tennis teams and …
8) The men’s and women’s golf teams the year hinges on what happens in the spring. Both the men and the women situated themselves well for postseason play, with the women finishing second at the Williams Invitational, which doubled as the NESCAC Tournament, and the men qualifying for the NCAA Tournament with a fourth place finish in the NESCAC Tournament behind captain Billy Prince ’13’s strongest performance of the fall season. Prince was named to the All-NESCAC team for the third time in his four year career after he shot a 148 in the qualifier. Prince finished in a tie for second place one stroke off the low mark of the tournament shot by Greg Palmer who led Trinity to the 2012 NESCAC title. The women, meanwhile, finished behind hosts Williams with captain Keely Levins ’13 leading the way, finishing in fifth with a 161 over the two rounds.
But while the golf teams enjoy the completion of a successful fall season and await warmer weather, the spring and a spot at Nationals still seems a long way off for …
9) The Middlebury College Rugby Club (MCRC) who have started the season 4-0, including a win over 2011 East Coast Conference champions (ECC) and perennial Division II-A powerhouse Northeastern. Most recently, the team ran through the University of Connecticut to the tune of 49-0. The shutout came shortly after the Panthers lost in overtime to Northeastern in the finals of the East Coast Rugby Conference 7s tournament.
“15s is still our main focus, and there we remain undefeated,” said fullback Allan Stafford ’13.5. “We also demolished all the other competition and sent a message to the conference that we [are] the top dogs this year.”
While Saturday’s performance is further evidence that the Blue are indeed the team to beat in the ECC, the MCRC cannot rest on its laurels with four more conference games standing between them and a shot to play in Nationals come spring time.
The Middlebury College Women’s Ruby Club (MCWRC) meanwhile, finishes its season this fall with two games against NESCAC opponents and then the playoffs. The team has shown vast improvement from last season, throttling Tufts 33-0 after losing 31-0 to the Jumbos last year. The MWCRC still haven’t found a way to beat Bowdoin, the class of the conference, who beat Middlebury 62-10 last season and again this season in a 26-point game, albeit closer than the final score would suggest. The impending playoffs, however, provide another opportunity, says captain Jess Berry ’13, for the squad to exact its revenge on the Polar Bears.
“I'm hoping that weekend [of the playoffs] we get a chance to meet Bowdoin again,” Berry said. “I'd like to be the best in the NESCAC, and I think with this team, it's more probable than possible.”
And while we’re on the subject of more probable than possible …
10) The football team has to like its chances of winning a NESCAC title in 2012. At 4-0, the Panthers are flirting with the idea of a perfect season, something the team has accomplished only twice, in 1936 and again in 1972. With the number one scoring defense and the number two offense in the conference, the Panthers have the balance necessary to win the NESCAC. Perhaps more important, however, is the way the team has approached its newfound success.
“The team's approach for the last four games is the same as it was for the first four — go 1-0,” Driscoll said. “We have to put in a championship level effort every week if we want to be successful, and that is what we have been doing. There is a ton of excitement and intensity at practice like we've never had before, and to win games that has to be the case every week.”
Driscoll, Foote and company are halfway to achieving what many would have thought impossible before the season began. But midway through the season, it doesn’t seem impossible anymore. If anything, it’s beginning to seem more probable than possible.
OWEN TEACH, TOM CLAYTON and FRITZ PARKER contributed to this report.
(10/11/12 12:04am)
No member of the football team had ever beaten Amherst. Not a single member of the team had ever been 3-0. Until Saturday Oct. 6, that is, when Middlebury dominated the defending NESCAC champions Amherst, 24-3 in a tour de force performance, handing the Lord Jeffs their first loss in over a year and ending their 10-game winning streak.
Led by an offensive line with two returning members from the 2011 All-NESCAC team and a trio of explosive running backs, the Lord Jeffs entered the game leading the NESCAC in rushing, averaging over 300 yards per game on the ground alone through the first two weeks of the season. Saturday, the Middlebury defense limited them to just 146 rushing yards on 43 carries — a paltry 3.4 yards per carry.
The defense also continued to make big plays, bookending the Middlebury win by forcing turnovers from a pair of Amherst quarterbacks. The unit’s improvement, however, goes far beyond forcing turnovers. Through the first three games of the season, the Panthers defense has allowed just over 11 points per game, the fewest in the NESCAC. Last season the defense ranked last in points allowed, giving up more than 31 points per game.
“It’s the little things that we didn’t do last year,” said defensive coordinator Doug Mandigo. “Eight-yard gains or completed passes are inevitable in a football game. The whole idea is not [allowing] an eight-yard gain or a completed pass [to become] a 50-yard gain or a touchdown. We’re just much better at that than we were last year and so we haven’t given up as many big plays as we did last year.”
The offense, meanwhile, struggled to find its rhythm early in the game — a worrying trend for quarterback Mac Foote ’14 and company, who have scored just two first quarter touchdowns in three games.
“We’ve moved the ball well, but we haven’t been able to convert on big third downs [early in the game],” Foote said. “It’s something we can’t afford [going forward].”
It was Amherst, therefore, who threatened to take an early first quarter lead. Following a three-and-out on the Panthers first drive, the Lord Jeffs marched 37 yards on eight plays to set up a first and 10 from the Middlebury 23-yard line. On the ensuing play, however, linebacker Matt Crimmins ’14, who blocked a field goal at the stroke of halftime the week before, sacked Amherst quarterback Max Lippe, forcing a fumble in the process, which defensive lineman Jimmy Tilson ’13 recovered.
The Middlebury offense punted on its next two drives, but the defense forced consecutive three-and-outs, keeping the game in a scoreless tie through the first quarter. Finally, on the first play of the second quarter, Middlebury ended the scoring drought as Foote found Preseason All-American Billy Chapman ’13 for an 11-yard touchdown pass, the third of the season for the 6’4’’, 223-pound tight end. Two possessions later, Foote and Chapman connected again, this time for an eight-yard score, capping a six-play, 64-yard drive and extending the Middlebury lead to 14-0.
Chapman caught 12 balls on the afternoon for 110 yards and two scores while Driscoll, coming off a NESCAC Player of the Week Award, brought down 11 receptions for 126 yards.
“[Chapman] and Driscoll have a really great understanding of route running and defenses and where to sit down, when to stand and run,” said head coach Bob Ritter. “This is [Foote’s] second year with those guys and there’s great chemistry there. [Foote’s] going to lead them into the right spot and they’re going to be [there].”
Hoping to take a three-score lead before the half, the Panthers defense forced an Amherst punt with 6:41 remaining in the second quarter. Foote orchestrated a drive using short passes to Driscoll and running back Remi Ashkar ’13 to open up looks downfield. On second and five from the Lord Jeffs 44-yard line, the Middlebury signal caller found Brendan Rankowitz ’15 over the middle of the field for a catch and run of 21 yards. The home team’s drive was stranded there, however, as Foote threw consecutive incompletions on first and second down from the Amherst 22-yard line, followed by a sack on third and 10. Out of field goal range, but too deep in Lord Jeffs territory to punt, Ritter left the offense on the field on fourth down. Foote’s 12-yard completion to Josh Amster ’13, however, came up four yards short.
The defense yet again picked up the offense, forcing the Lord Jeffs into another three-and-out — their sixth of the half. With 50 seconds left in the quarter and all three timeouts remaining, Foote and the offense took over at midfield after a 30-yard punt from Amherst punter Jackson McGonagle. Following a conversion on third-and-six down to the Amherst 24-yard line, Foote found first-year wide receiver Harrison Goodkind ’16 who made a leaping grab over the middle on a 20-yard pass to the four-yard line. Following a pair of timeouts and an unsuccessful run on first-and-goal by Ashkar, Middlebury faced second-and-goal from the three-yard line with eight seconds remaining in the first half. After surveying the end zone for an open receiver Foote stepped out of a would-be-tackle and dove into the end zone, scoring on the final offensive play of the half to give Middlebury a 21-0 lead.
“I read [the play] front to back, but everyone was covered from the right side to the left side,” Foote said, describing the play. “I have thrown to Driscoll late over the middle [in the past] and everyone else knew that too, so Amherst was pushed back and I was able to walk into the end zone sort of untouched.”
Foote finished the first half with two touchdown passes in addition to the rushing touchdown — the first score on the ground in his Middlebury career. The Newton, Mass. native finished the game with 379 yards through the air, marred only by a second half interception.
The Panthers opened the second half with the ball, but were unable to extend the lead as Foote threw three consecutive incomplete passes after picking up a first down. Amherst, sensing a chance to find its way back into the game engineered its only scoring drive of the game. Riding running backs Ryan Silva and 240-pound Steven Jellison, the Lord Jeffs gained 61 yards on 14 plays. With its back to the goal line, however, the Middlebury defense stiffened, bringing down Amherst tailback Tyler Jacobs for a loss of a yard on third down and eight at the Middlebury nine-yard line. Amherst head coach E.J. Mills opted to attempt a field goal, which kicker Jake Schmidt converted from 29 yards out. It would be Amherst’s only score of the game.
The Panthers responded on the first drive of the fourth quarter as first-year kicker Jake Feury ’16 capped an 11-play, 33-yard drive with a 28-yard field goal to bring the Middlebury lead back to 21.
In fitting fashion, the defense finished the game emphatically as first-year linebacker and NESCAC Defensive Player of the Week Tim Patricia ’16 intercepted Amherst’s second-string quarterback DJ Petropolous with 2:25 remaining. Patricia led the team in tackles for the second consecutive week adding 12 total tackles to his team-high 32 this season. His interception, however, demonstrated that Patricia will make plays in coverage, as well.
“I had been lurking the past three plays [on the drive],” Patricia said. “[Petropolous] went to his first read a couple of times earlier so I knew he would probably try to dish it to his second read the next time down. So I lurked underneath that [route], he threw it and I made a play.”
The interception sealed the Middlebury victory and likely Patricia’s NESCAC Player of the Week Award as well.
“I was really excited to get the nod from the NESCAC — it was awesome,” he said. “But the win was really all I needed.”
The 3-0 Panthers travel to Williamstown, Mass. Saturday, Oct. 13 to face Williams (1-2). The Ephs have struggled with early season injuries at key positions, but have dominated Middlebury historically. The Panthers are looking to beat the Ephs for the first time since 2000.