Courtesy Wesleyan Sports Information

MIDDLETOWN, Conn. - Middlebury (15-2) advanced to the NCAA Men's Lacrosse Tournament semifinals for the first time since 2005 after a 13-5 win at Wesleyan (15-4) in an quarterfinal match-up here Wednesday afternoon. The Panthers will travel to Cortland (17-2), a 6-5 winner over Western New England, for a semifinal game on Sunday, May 17. The winner of that game advances to the national title game in Foxboro, Mass., Sunday, May 24 against the winner of the Gettysburg-Stevenson semifinal.

The win over Wesleyan avenged both of Middlebury's losses this season as each came at the hands of the Cardinals. Middlebury will make its eighth appearance in the NCAA semi-finals in the last 11 seasons, having made it that far every year from 1999 through 2005 with three titles (2000-2002). In their last appearance in 2005, the Panthers knocked off Nazareth, 13-11, to meet Salisbury in the championship game, won by the Sea Gulls, 11-10.

Middlebury took a little while to get started in its third meeting with Wesleyan but left no trace of its 3-0 deficit after 7:28 of the first quarter. The Panthers rattled off six unanswered goals from 7:03 of the first period when senior Matt Ferrer got things started off a pass from sophomore David Hild to 3:37 of the second stanza when senior Skyler Hopkins netted an unassisted tally from the outside. The six goals came from six different players but Hopkins had two assists on the other five goals to trigger the assault.

At the other end, Middlebury’s defense stymied the Cardinal offense, holding Wesleyan to just one shot over the nearly 20-minute span. Also helping support the Middlebury effort was senior faceoff man Dave Campbell. After he lost five of six faceoffs during the opening quarter, he settled in to win 11 of the final 16.

Though Wesleyan ended the first half on a goal by recently named NESCAC Rookie of the Year freshman John Froats to make it a 6-4 margin at intermission, that was as close as the Cardinals got. Middlebury had the only two goals of the third period, coming from senior Mike Stone on a low shot from the outside and Hild on an inside feed from junior Peter Smith. Stone, named NESCAC Player of the Year for the second straight season, took over the game in the fourth quarter as Middlebury pushed the four-goal difference to the final margin of eight. Stone was involved in four of the Panthers final five goals with two goals and two assists, bringing his seasonal total to 73 on 56 goals and 17 helpers. Smith, with a goal and three assists, upped his seasonal output to 57 points (15-42-57) while Hopkins cracked the 50-point plateau at 31-21-52 with his goal and two assists.

In the Middlebury net, senior Peter Britt, who has played all but five minutes in goal for the Panthers this season, made 15 saves for a .750 percentage in the contest. His counterpart, senior Mike Borrero of Wesleyan, had 13 stops.

Wesleyan senior Russ Follansbee paced the Cardinals with two goals, including the final score at 9:51 of the fourth quarter which cut the differential to five at 10-5. It put him at 71 points for the year and exactly 200 in his career, becoming the fifth Cardinal to get up to 200 or more points over four years.