Junior Tiffany Danyow slipped a shot by South Burlington goalie Julie Hudson to lift the Middlebury field hockey team past South Burlington 1-0 in the Division I championship game. With the win, the Tigers captured their third title, and first since 1998.
“I didn’t believe it at first. I couldn’t get over it,” said Danyow.
The Tigers finished the season on a five-game winning streak but Middlebury’s season started off on the wrong foot. South Burlington’s 8-0 win in their first game of the season put the Tigers in a tough spot.
“No one knew we could do it—lost 8-0 in the beginning (of the season), now we beat them in the championship,” said Danyow. “There wasn’t any doubt in our minds that we wouldn’t win the game.”
Danyow scored off a penalty corner from senior Chrissy Ritter with 28:40 remaining.
South Burlington didn’t go down easy. The Rebels had their chances, with the best coming with 12:01 left in the first half. Junior Anne-Marie Farmer went coast-to-coast before dishing the ball to senior Morgan Bresnahan. But with one touch, Middlebury goalie Heather Ploof was right on top of her, denying the goal.
The team successfully completed a challenge given throughout the entire season by head coach Kelley Higgins.
“We’ve had this thing all season at halftime that the challenge is to score in the first five minutes, and they did,” said Higgins. This proved to be a key goal as the Rebels attacked the Tigers end for most of the 2nd half.
Ploof managed to counter the Rebel attack by collecting nine saves. Hudson stopped four Tiger shots.
The game was hard fought, but Higgins knew neither team was playing well.
“That wasn’t our prettiest game,” said Higgins. “The turf field may have had a factor as the ball moved faster than on grass.”
South Burlington ends their season with a final record of 14-2-1, while Middlebury wraps up their season finishing 13-3-1.
