Panthers advance to NESCAC title game with 3-1 win over Trinity

Middlebury's Elizabeth Wulf sets up in front of the Trinity net on Saturday. (Will Costello)

Middlebury scored three unanswered goals as the Panthers advanced to the NESCAC Championship with a 3-1 triumph over Trinity on Saturday in Kenyon Arena. Top-seeded Middlebury (19-4-3) will meet the winner of the second semifinal between #2 Amherst and #3 Connecticut College on Sunday at 2:00 p.m. The title game will be the 11^th for the Panthers as the Bantams finish their season at 15-9-2. The winner of Sunday's title contest will receive the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Championship.

Trinity had a good opportunity to grab an early lead when Shannon Ferrell slipped behind the Panther defense on a breakaway. Farrell whistled a shot over the cross bar just over two minutes into the game.

Sixth-ranked Middlebury earned a power play with 5:42 left in the opening period and moved the puck well, but weren't rewarded for its effort. The Panthers took seven shots with three of them being on goal. Elizabeth Wulf had the best chance with a deflection at the left side of the net that Bantam goalie Sydney Belinskas turned aside.

The Bantams got a late power play and capitalized on a tremendous end-to-end effort by Emma Tani. Tani collected the puck in front of the goal after Belinskas broke up a Middlebury centering pass, weaved her way through the neutral zone, jumped past a defender and finished off the rush with a high shot. That goal came with 12 seconds left in the period and was her ninth of the season.

In the second period, the Panthers pulled even at the 8:57 mark on the first career goal by Jenna Marotta. Marotta drilled a shot from the right point on the power play after Julia Wardwell slid the puck across from the opposite side.

Trinity came close to regaining the lead on a rush up the right wing led by Farrell. Farrell skated in along the boards and set up Kate Fraley for a one-timer from inside the circle. Middlebury goalie Julia Neuburger steered the scoring bid aside keeping the score tied at 1-1.

The hosts struck again while on the power play later in the period, when Maddie Winslow netted her team-leading 16th of the season after trading passes with Wardwell. That goal came at the 16:39 mark of the middle period.

The Panthers protected their one-goal lead throughout the period, but Trinity made a late push. Melissa Maffeo and Hannah Oganeku each had shots from close range stopped by Neuburger on a scramble for a loose puck at the top of the crease with just under five minutes left in regulation.

Trinity called a time out with 53.2 seconds remaining and also brought Belinskas to the bench for an extra attacker. The Panthers controlled the ensuing face off taken just outside the Bantam blue line and kept the guests hemmed in their own zone until Jessica Young added an empty-net goal for Middlebury with 10 seconds remaining.

Neuburger finished with 21 saves, while Belinskas had 19, as each team finished with 22 shots on goal. The Panthers were 2-4 on the power play and Trinity had one goal on two attempts.