Middlebury College's Elizabeth Wulf scored 2:38 into the first period and the Panthers never trailed en route to a 3-1 NESCAC win against the Hamilton College Continentals at Hamilton's Russell Sage Rink on Friday night.

The Continentals (10-5-1, 7-2-0 NESCAC) have dropped two straight conference games after winning their first seven. Hamilton slipped from first place to third in the NESCAC standings.

Middlebury (11-3-1, 7-1-1) moved into first place in the conference standings with the victory. The Panthers, who are ranked fifth in the USCHO.com Division III Top 15 poll and sixth in the D3hockey.com poll, have won six straight and are 8-0-1 in their last nine games.

Middlebury took its 1-0 edge into the third period when the teams combined to score three goals and commit four penalties. Janka Hlinka handed the Panthers an insurance goal at 6:28 of the third. Jessica Young won a faceoff back to Hlinka in Middlebury's offensive zone and her wrist shot from the top of the right circle snuck under the crossbar and sailed above the goaltender's blocker.

The Continentals cut their deficit in half on a power-play goal by Andrea Rockey '19 just one second past the halfway point of the period. Hamilton was in the middle of a power play when head coach Emily McNamara called her timeout at 9:42. Rockey scored her sixth goal this season 19 seconds later. Michaela Giuttari '20 sent a pass from the right circle to Rockey in the left circle. Her one-timer beat Lin Han (18 saves) as Han was scrambling back from the left side of the net to her right. The goal was the first allowed by the Panthers in more than 290 minutes. Taegan Blackwell '19 also picked up her sixth assist on the play. Giuttari leads the Continentals with nine helpers and 16 points.

Young clinched the win for the visitors on a power-play goal with 5:03 left. Jenna Marotta sent a pass from the point over to Young at the top of the right circle. Young skated with the puck into the high slot and flicked a wrist shot into the back of the net. It was only the second power-play goal given up by Hamilton in 16 games this season. Middlebury held an 18-5 shot advantage during the final 20 minutes.

The Panthers grabbed the early lead when Marotta's wrist shot from above the right circle was stopped by Sam Walther '18 (33 saves), but Wulf was waiting just outside the crease to poke in the rebound. Neither team scored in the second period but Middlebury came the closest with 3:30 remaining when a wrist shot taken by Young from above the left circle banged off the crossbar.

The Panthers posted a 36-19 shot advantage and went 1-for-5 on the power play. The Continentals scored on one of their three opportunities.

The two teams are back at it again on Saturday, Jan. 27 at Sage Rink at 3 p.m.