MIDDLEBURY, VT – For the second straight year, the University of Rochester field hockey team ends its season in the NCAA Division III Tournament to Middlebury College, this time falling in the national quarterfinals to the Panthers by a 5-0 score on Sunday afternoon.
 
The game score was not indicative of the strong effort Rochester produced defensively, as UR made four defensive saves, including three by Colleen Maillie, and goalkeeper Kiran Sundaram made eight other stops, but the Middlebury offense was just too powerful and eventually pulled away, breaking open a close 1-0 game with a strong second half.
 
#14 Rochester ends the season with an 18-4 overall record, matching a school record for wins in a season.  The #2 ranked Panthers will move on to the NCAA Division III field hockey Final Four in Louisville, Kentucky next week, where they will face Franklin & Marshall.  Middlebury moves to 18-2 on the year and has won 14 straight games.
 
Middlebury broke the scoreless game in the final minute of the first half, as UR's defense was up to the task of keeping the Panthers off the scoreboard for the opening 34 minutes of the game.  With just 28 seconds left in the half, Julia Richards corralled a lifted ball at the edge of the circle, waited for Sundaram to make a move and slipped the ball past the UR keeper along the right side from a tough angle.
 
Earlier in the half, Middlebury's Annie Leonard was stoned by a diving Courtney Dunham for a defensive save, but the Panthers were awarded a penalty stroke at the 9:30 mark.  On the stroke, Sundaram made a great diving stop, leaning to her left, deflecting the shot into the post and away to safety.
 
Just over a minute later, Marissa Baker had another excellent chance for the Panthers, but Maillie made her first DS of the game, clearing a ball off the line.
 
On Middlebury's second penalty corner of the half in the 23rd minute, some great passing set up a wide open shot for Baker again, but Maillie again was in the right spot defensively, making the save and keeping the game scoreless at the time.
 
Rochester was held to just one shot in the opening 35 minutes, coming at the 7:57 mark off a penalty corner.  Maillie took the shot from the top of the circle, blasting a hard attempt wide left of the cage.
 
In the second half, UR earned another PC early on, looking for the equalizer, but Maillie's shot from the top of the circle again sailed wide, as the attempt was in the direction of Nancy Bansbach who couldn't connect on the tip shot attempt.
 
The Panthers broke through for a 2-0 lead at 42:44, when a long hit into the circle rebounded out to Baker who finally was able to get on the scoreboard, slapping in a shot while she was falling to the turf.
 
The score became 3-0 when Middlebury earned a third straight penalty corner, with Audrey Quirk lifting a ball into the top of the net from in close on the left side.
 
Middlebury then ended up completing the scoring with two goals in the final ten minutes of the contest, one by Leonard and the other from Emma Johns.
 
In the contest, the Panther offense took a total of 23 shots, 17 of which were on target, compared to UR's five, all of which were wide of the cage.  Rochester earned four corners, but Middlebury took nine in the game.
 
In last seasons NCAA playoffs, the same Panther team upended Rochester 4-0 in a second round matchup, played at Messiah College.
 
The 2017 campaign is the third appearance in the national quarterfinal for Rochester out of four tries in the national tournament.  UR also has qualified for NCAA's in three straight years, also setting a new school mark.