NCAA TOURNAMENT: No. 8 Field Hockey Falls To No. 9 Middlebury, 3-2 (2OT)

BALTIMORE, Md. — The No. 8 Endicott field hockey team fell to No. 9 Middlebury, 3-2, in double overtime on Saturday afternoon in the second round of the NCAA Tournament at Homewood Field.

The Panthers found the back of the goal just over three minutes into the second overtime to secure the comeback victory.

Endicott got on the board first in the contest as Abby Antonelli (Worcester, Mass.) slotted home her eighth goal of the season at the 3:09 mark of the first quarter off a feed from Maddy Dengler (Winchester, Mass.).

Dengler made a move to get around her defender and fed the middle of the circle, where Antonelli was unmarked and fired one home into the bottom left corner.

Tori Swanson (Farmington, Conn.) then doubled the Blue and Green's lead later in the first quarter as she tipped home a pass from Reagan Hicks (Barnstable, Mass.).

The Gulls held onto the 2-0 lead heading to halftime as Faith Minickene (Madison, Conn.) made four saves in the second quarter to keep the Panthers off the scoreboard.

Middlebury answered midway through the third quarter and then converted a penalty stroke with 35 seconds remaining later in the stanza to tie the game up heading to the fourth.

The fourth quarter saw both defenses hold strong as the two teams combined for just three shots, forcing the game to overtime.

In the first extra period, the Panthers controlled the play with seven shots (five on goal), but the Gulls continued to lock down defensively. Middlebury was awarded another penalty stroke, but Minickene denied the attempt with a diving save to keep the game tied.

Then, in the second extra session, Middlebury worked the ball into the circle and put one home to pick up the 3-2 victory.

Minickene finished the game with 17 saves (20-2 overall).

BEYOND THE BOX SCORE

• Second-ever meeting in the NCAA Tournament between the two programs.
• Minickene's 17 saves rank t-10 all-time in a game.
• The Gulls scored two or more goals in every game this season.
• The senior class of Antonelli, Gracie Bolduc (Weare, N.H.), Natalia Correia (Tyngsboro, Mass.), Alexis DeMattia (Methuen, Mass.), Dengler, Lily Farnham (Andover, Mass.), Hicks, Lily Johnson (Paxton, Mass.), Jordyn Kuharich (Holliston, Mass.), and Swanson finish their Endicott careers with a final record of 66-17 (.795)

WHAT'S NEXT

No. 8 Endicott sees its season come to an end with a final record of 21-2. No. 9 Middlebury will now face No. 2 Johns Hopkins in the third round of the NCAA Tournament on Sunday, November 16 at 1 PM.

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(Photo Credit - Marty Corcoran, Johns Hopkins Creative Team)