SALEM, Va. - Jane Earley scored six goals with an assist for Middlebury College as the Panthers won the 2022 NCAA Division III Women's Lacrosse Championship with a 13-5 victory over Tufts University on Sunday at Kerr Stadium on the campus of Roanoke College. Middlebury exploded for seven goals in the fourth quarter to break open a close game, as the Panthers won the program's eighth NCAA title. Tufts finished as the NCAA Runner-Up for the second straight season.
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Middlebury (22-1) avenged its only setback of the spring which came at the hands of Tufts (19-4) in the NESCAC Championship game earlier this month. For the second-straight day, Middlebury ended the nation's longest winning streak, as Tufts entered Sunday's game as the winners of 12-straight contests.
Jane Earley gave the Panthers a lift right from the opening whistle, scoring 2:02 into the contest and adding a second goal three minutes later to give Middlebury a 2-0 lead. Defender Emma White initiated the next Middlebury goal with a caused turnover in front of the Panther net. She carried the ball up the field and dished a pass to Lily Riseberg for a 3-0 edge.
The Jumbos got on the board on a tally by Sami Rothstein with 6:22 on the clock, but Middlebury's Kelcey Dion pushed the Panthers' lead to 4-1, bouncing a shot just under the crossbar. Middlebury's defense had a strong opening quarter, limiting the Jumbos to one shot and forcing eight turnovers.
Earley made it 5-1 with a marker 47 seconds into the second quarter, before Tufts made a push with back-to-back goals by Margie Carden and Mae Briody to trim the lead to 5-3. The Jumbo defense would allow just one Panther goal the rest of the second quarter as Middlebury took the two-goal cushion into halftime.
Both defenses limited the chances early in the third frame. On the free-position attempt, Hope Shue faked high and used a low shot to increase Middlebury's lead to 6-3 with 9:19 on the clock. Enrietto made a timely save for Middlebury along the turf on Margie Carden, but the Jumbos closed the gap to two, 6-4, with 5:29 remaining on a goal from Genna Gibbons. Tufts nearly sliced the lead to one goal when Kathryn Delaney's shot hit off the right post, keeping the difference at two with a quarter to play.
The teams traded goals 24 seconds apart in the opening minutes of the final stanza. Grace Getman picked up a free ball on her own free-position attempt and scored with 14:10 on the clock, while Delaney countered on the ensuing possession for the Jumbos to close the margin to 7-5.
Earley answered with her own three-goal rally to extend Middlebury's lead to 10-5 and the Panthers closed the game by scoring the final six tallies of the contest for the final margin.
Earley tied a career-high with six goals and added an assist to lead all players with seven points and set Middlebury's single-season scoring record with 99 points. For the Jumbos, Briody had a goal and two assists, while Anna Clarke finished with four ground balls.
Molly Laliberty recorded nine stops in goal for Tufts while Annie Enrietto earned the win in goal with four saves to finish the year with a 16-0 mark.
