MIDDLEBURY, Vt. – The No. 4 Amherst College men's lacrosse team rallied to score five times in the fourth quarter, but No. 13 Middlebury College held on for a hard-fought, 17-14 victory in Saturday afternoon's NESCAC thriller at Alumni Stadium in Middlebury, Vt.

RECORDS
Amherst (7-2, 3-1 NESCAC)
Middlebury (5-4, 3-2 NESCAC)

FIRST HALF HIGHLIGHTS

• In the opening quarter, Middlebury was the first to score as Kyle Soroka found the back of the net at the 12:01 mark to make it 1-0.
• Henry Riehl then added a goal at the 9:14 mark, before Jack Gould put the Panthers ahead, 3-0 at the 6:08 mark of the stanza.
• Kane Haffey '16 broke the three-goal stretch for Amherst as he scored with 5:13 to play in the first quarter following an assist from Evan Wolf '19 to make it 3-1.
• Middlebury extended its lead back to three at the 3:39 mark as Sean Carroll capitalized on a feed from Jack Cleary to set the score at 4-1 after 15 minutes.
• In the second stanza, Amherst sprinted out of the gate as Brett Inglesby '18 scored on a dish from Charlie Gill '16 at the 13:03 mark, before Michael Litner '16 scored an unassisted marker less than a minute later.
• Wolf then collected a score of his own following a pass from Ian Kadish '18 to even the game at 4-4 with 10:31 to play in the second quarter.
• The Panthers responded with five unanswered goals as Jack Rautiola scored three times during the span to help Middlebury stake a 9-4 lead at intermission. Tim Giarusso and Gould provided the other two goals during the five-goal surge, while Jon Broome, Riehl, Cedric Rhodes and Dylan Fowler registered helpers.

SECOND HALF HIGHLIGHTS

• Gill picked up a goal early in the third frame, scoring just 41 seconds into the quarter to pull the visitors to within four at 9-5.
• The Panthers then struck for back-to-back scores as Giarusso and Rhodes found the back of the cage, with Carroll assisting on Rhodes' tally to make it 11-5 with 11:13 left in the third period.
• Brian O'Malley '17 registered his first goal of the 2016 season on a feed from Chris Albanese '17 at the 8:57 mark, but Middlebury answered with three straight scores to make it 14-6 with 5:25 left in the stanza.
• Rhodes scored the first of the goals, while Riehl followed with the next two. Rautiola and Gould provided the aid on the scoring plays, while Riehl's last marker came on the extra-man opportunity.
• With 3:27 on the clock, Dylan Park '16 scorched the nylon following a dish from Quinn Moroney '16 to make it 14-7, before the duo struck again 1:27 later to make it 14-8.
• Andrew Ford '19 then scored the Purple & White's third consecutive goal with 1:33 on the clock to pull the visitors to within five at 14-9, but a goal by Broome assisted by Wyatt Rancourt on the ensuing faceoff helped Middlebury take a 15-9 lead into the fourth quarter.
• In the fourth frame, Amherst narrowed its deficit to five (15-10) when Haffey scored on a nice feed from Ford at the 13:35 mark.
• The Panthers answered with Soroka who found the back of the cage for the second time to make it 16-10 with 12:06 to play in the game.
• Riehl put the hosts up seven (17-10) at the 10:28 mark, but moments later, Park scored his third of the contest bring the Purple & White back to within six at 17-11 with 9:34 on the clock.
• Another tally from Haffey assisted by Connor Sheehan '18 narrowed Middlebury's lead to 17-12 with 8:18 remaining in the contest, before Park drove in his fourth score of the game to make 17-13.
• On the ensuing faceoff, O'Malley picked up a ground ball and ripped a shot into the net to pull Amherst to within three (17-14) with 6:07 remaining in the quarter.
• The Purple & White had a pair of late chances but Panthers' goalie Will Ernst made two clutch stops to help Middlebury seal the victory.

BY THE NUMBERS

• Amherst was led by Ryan Cassidy '16 and Rob Butko '16 who picked up five and four ground balls respectively, while Ford, Wolf and O'Malley followed with three pickups each.
• Ford, Cassidy, and Connor Crump '16 added two caused turnovers apiece, while Cody Tranbarger '17 made 12 saves in the losing effort. Five of Tranbarger's stops came during the first quarter.
• John Jackson led all players with 15 ground balls and was 23-for-32 at the faceoff dot. Jack DeFrino followed with four ground balls, while he and Jon Hurvitz forced a pair of turnovers each.
• Ernst made six saves in goal for Middlebury.

UP NEXT

• Amherst returns to NESCAC action Wednesday, April 6 when it travels to Wesleyan University for a 7 p.m. tilt in Middletown, Conn.
• Middlebury is back on the field Wednesday, April 6 when it travels to Hamilton College for a 5 p.m. NESCAC matchup in Clinton, N.Y.