The Middlebury College Panthers broke open a close game with seven straight goals in the second half and went on to a 20-11 NESCAC win against the Hamilton College Continentals at Middlebury's Kohn Field on Sunday.

Honor Gabriel '21 led the Continentals' offense with three goals. Nationally ranked No. 8 Middlebury is the 10th ranked team Hamilton has faced this season.

Kara Pooley '19 and Skyler Simson '20 netted two goals apiece for the Continentals (5-9, 3-7 NESCAC). Nicole Lyons '18, Jackie Cuddy '18, Darby Philbrick '18 and Courtney Pierre '21 notched one goal and one assist apiece.

Pierre scooped up four ground balls, Simson won six draw controls and Pooley claimed four draws. Philbrick caused three turnovers and added five draw controls, and Gabby O'Brien '19 was credited with three caused turnovers. Hannah Burrall '19 made three saves in the first half and Eleni Neyland '18 stopped five more in the second half.

Emma McDonagh, Hollis Perticone and Georgia Carroll led the Panthers (12-2, 8-1) offensively with three goals each. Sara DiCenso picked up four assists. Perticone collected 10 draw controls and Addy Mitchell and Erin Nicholas caused three turnovers apiece. Susanna Baker paced the defense with five ground balls and three caused turnovers, and Alex White chipped in four ground balls and three caused turnovers. Julia Keith, Kate Furber and Alex Freedman combined to make six saves.

The teams played a close first half, as neither team led by more than four goals. After falling behind 3-1, the Continentals responded with goals by Pooley and Simson to tie the score at 3-3 with 19:08 left.

Middlebury followed with four answered goals, including free-position tallies by Perticone and McDonagh, to go up 7-3 with 16:19 remaining. Hamilton rallied with three consecutive goals and tied it up again at 9-9 with 3:19 left to play in the first. Simson scored the first one and Gabriel completed the spurt with a pair. Middlebury put home two in the final 2:06 and carried an 11-9 lead into the break.

The Panthers opened the second half with goals by McDonagh and Kristen Murphy and pushed their lead to 13-9 with 21:44 to go. Philbrick converted on a free-position shot with 20:03 left and cut Middlebury's lead to three.

That was the last time the Panthers let up, as they scored the next seven and claimed a 10-goal lead with 4:41 remaining. Pooley finished off the scoring with her second of the day off a free-position shot with 32 seconds left.

The Continentals have played all their NESCAC games and currently sit in eighth place in the conference standings, while the other 10 teams have one mid-week game left to play. The top eight teams advance to the 2018 NESCAC Women's Lacrosse Championship quarterfinals on Saturday. April 28.

Hamilton hosts Ithaca College in the Continentals' regular season finale on Wednesday, April 25 on Steuben Field at 5 p.m.

-- Release by Julia Booth