The Panthers don’t lose this game. On Sunday, May 24, at Judson Stadium in Rochester, top-ranked Middlebury grinded out an 8-6 win over No. 2 Wesleyan to claim its fifth consecutive DIII women’s lacrosse championship — and the 12th in program history, pulling Middlebury even with TCNJ atop the all-time DIII record book.
A perfect 22-0 season. A fifth straight crown. A dynasty that just refuses to slow down.
A rock fight, won the hard way
This was no shootout. Two elite defenses turned the final into a 30-minute grind, and the teams went into halftime knotted at 3-3. Wesleyan even nudged ahead 5-4 midway through the third quarter on a Dylan Green free-position goal, and for a moment the Cardinals — in their first national title game in school history — looked ready to pull the upset.
Then Middlebury did what Middlebury does.
The 4-0 run that decided it
Over a 14-minute stretch bridging the third and fourth quarters, the Panthers reeled off four unanswered goals to flip a one-goal deficit into a three-goal cushion. Maddie Ackerman started it with an extra-player goal off Parker Hanson’s second assist of the day. Haley Hamilton and Siobhan Colin added free-position strikes to close the third. Then Caroline Adams capped the burst with her second goal of the game, set up by Kendal Coyne, with 9:18 to play. Game, set, dynasty.
Adams takes MOP honors
Senior Caroline Adams — a Norwich, Vermont, native playing close to home — was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player. She finished with two goals, a team-high four draw controls and three ground balls, doing the dirty work that fuels Middlebury’s machine. Lucy Bishop, Colin, Giuriceo and Jaime Patton-Martin joined her on the All-Tournament Team.
A clutch finish in the cage
Wesleyan didn’t fold. In the dying seconds, the Cardinals fired consecutive point-blank looks — a bid from Dibble with 18 ticks left and another from Green at 0:02 — but Middlebury goalkeeper Savage stuffed both to slam the door on the two-goal win.
The architect: Kate Livesay
Head coach Kate Livesay now owns eight national championships — seven at Middlebury, including these last five in a row, plus one earlier at Trinity. “We built our momentum by creating big moments off of the little moments,” Livesay said. Nobody builds and sustains a women’s lacrosse program like she does.
A senior class for the ages
This was the third all-NESCAC final in five years, and Middlebury beat Wesleyan for the third time this season after edging the Cardinals in the regular season and the NESCAC final. Just getting here meant surviving a 10-9 overtime thriller against Tufts in the semis. Sunday’s title was also the 50th national championship in Middlebury Athletics history — and this senior class walks away with four rings and a staggering 90-1 career record.
Still the kings of DIII
Five straight. Twelve all-time. An undefeated season capped by a defensive masterclass and a fourth-quarter haymaker. The Panthers came to Rochester as the team to beat and left, once again, as the team nobody could.
Go Panthers. 🐾 Fire up the champs and fuel their NIL on RallyFuel.
Leave a Comment