The Panthers had already rallied to tie their women’s lacrosse game Saturday afternoon, and when an errant pass floated across the front of the goal mouth, the Panthers took full advantage.

Bridget Instrum turned her interception of that pass into a quick goal, lifting Middlebury to a 7-6 win over the Bates Bobcats at Garcelon Field.

“If it wasn’t for our fantastic ride to press the ball, she wouldn’t have made that bad pass and it would never have happened,” Instrum, a sophomore attack, said. “That’s our game plan, to use our pressure and our speed and force them to make bad plays.”

The Panthers (9-1) finished the game with four consecutive goals, outscoring Bates 5-1 in the second half. Instrum had two of those goals.

“The last two or three games, we had the same issues,” Instrum said. “We just need to come out and play 60 minutes, but we have been down before. So we never lose confidence.”

It was a tough loss for Bates (7-5). The Bobcats played well, building a three-goal lead to end the first half and maintaining it early in the second.

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“We got off to a good start,” Bates coach Brett Allen said. “We actually played pretty well the whole game. The outcome isn’t the one we hoped for. We played very well defensively the whole game. Our offense did a nice job. We created some opportunities. There’s always going to be some mistakes that happen at the end of the game that everybody wishes they could have over again, but we played so well the whole game on both sides of the ball.”

Wally Pierce had two goals and an assist for the Bobcats while Emma Noto had a pair of goals. Hannah Jeffrey had a fine outing in net for Bates, making five saves on 12 shots.

Alli Sciarretta added two goals and an assist for Middlebury.

“They’re a good team,” Allen said. “They’re going to get some opportunities. We did a really good job defensively. They got some really good opportunities that they finished on.”

Middlebury scored early in the second half on a Laural Pascal goal to make it 5-3 with 23:02 left. Bates did a nice job moving the ball and forcing the Panthers to chase while taking time off the clock. The Bobcats got the three-goal lead back with 17:55 with the man advantage. Kaileigh Maguire finished off a nice pass from Kathy Yannopoulos from behind the net to make it 6-3.

It was the only second half goal in the past two games for Bates. The Bobcats were held to just four shots in the second half Saturday.

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“The chances we got were good but they weren’t as good,” Allen said. “We really struggled to finish. We had a nice goal to go up 6-3, but we didn’t really have another opportunity as good as that the rest of the game.”

Middlebury got one back with 14:48 left when Sciarretta finished off a Cat Lincoln pass. Then just 40 seconds later, Instrum got the Panthers within 6-5. She took a pass from Sciarretta and scored from in the middle with 14:18 left.

The Panthers got the tying goal with 8:30 left. Lincoln scored from the left side off a pass from Delaina Smith. Her shot was initially blocked by Jeffrey but still found its way into the net.  Just over a minute later, Middlebury would have the lead for the first time.

With the Panthers pressuring the Bates defenders to the right of the goal, the Bobcats tried to move the ball up the field by throwing a pass back across toward the front of the net. Instrum was there for the interception. Jeffrey had been out of the goal and scrambled to get back.

“I was thinking ‘What’s the goalie going to do and where should I place it,'” Instrum said.

With a Bates defender on her back and Jefferey returning to the goal, Instrum still managed to bury the game-winner with 7:23 left.

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“I was hoping to anticipate it and just let her move because she was making a last minute effort there,” Instrum said of the goalie.

Bates took a timeout with 6:44 remaining but struggled to maintain possession and create quality scoring attempts. Middlebury got interceptions from Erin Benotti and Liza Herzog to end Bates threats. The Bobcats had a shot from Pierce with 1:08 left that was saved by goalie Alyssa Palomba. Bates held possession following the shot but turned the ball over with 33 seconds remaining.

“We’ve been on the short end of the stick here now four times with one-goal losses,” Allen said. “That’s pretty frustrating. As a coaching staff, we’re not going to bed trying to reinvent the wheel. We know what we’re doing is working. We know we have very good players. We know everybody in the country is a team we’re capable of beating. It’s just a matter of showing up for 60 minutes and making the plays when we have to make them.”

Bates, 3-4 in the conference,  jumped out to the early lead on a pair of goals from Pierce. Middlebury, 6-1 in the NESCAC,  answered those with goals from Sciarretta and Mary O’Connell. The Bobcats finished the half with three straight for a 5-2 lead.

Emma Noto scored back-to-back. Then Kelan McCann finished off a Bridget Meedzan pass with eight seconds left in the half.

“We’re really a smart team,” Instrum said. “We just like to read what’s going on first and then we end up figuring it out.”

kmills@sunjournal.com


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