Middlebury College players and fans celebrate the eventual game-winning goal in the third period of the NCAA Division III national championship game. The top-ranked Middlebury College women’s ice hockey team got one step closer to its first national championship since 2006 with a 3-2 semifinal victory over Elmira College Saturday at Chip Kenyon Arena in Middlebury, Vermont.

A game featuring two of the top three defenses in the nation unsurprisingly went through the first period without a goal, as the teams exchanged scoring chances early.

The scoring began at 8:10 of the second period as Middlebury sophomore forward Cat Appleyard got the hosts on the board with a power-play goal.

Junior forward Jenna Letterie passed the puck from the top of the right faceoff circle to Senior forward Katie Hargrave at the goal line. Hargrave took one touch on the puck to find Appleyard at the right hash marks before Appleyard sent the one-timer on the net for the goal.

Middlebury College players and fans celebrate the eventual game-winning goal in the third period of the NCAA Division III national championship game. The visitors got back even just 1:01 later on the game clock, however.

Senior forward Morgan Mordini beat two Panthers to the puck in the right corner before sending a centering pass toward the slot. The puck took a slight deflection off the skate of graduate forward Emma Crocker before finding senior forward Eliza Beaudin in the low right circle, where Beaudin sent a low-angle shot to sneak in just below the glove of Middlebury freshman goaltender Sophia Merageas.

The Panthers regained the lead at 12:44 of the second period with a goal from freshman forward Kylie Quinlan. Freshman forward Raia Schluter corralled the puck along the left half-board and passed it to fellow freshman Molly Macqueen in the corner, who found Quinlan in the slot. Quinlan beat Elmira goaltender Leonie-Louise Kuehberger with a toe drag to get around the left pad.

Middlebury gained the crucial insurance goal at 8:13 of the third period with a goal from senior captain Madie Leidt. Letterie controlled the puck bouncing off the back of the goal before finding Leidt in the slot of the one-timer.

Elmira managed to get some offensive pressure late in the third, cutting the deficit in half at 15:46. After an icing call, Elmira senior forward Mary McCafferty won the defensive-zone faceoff, and freshman forward Erika Goleniak chipped the puck up the boards to herself into the offensive zone on the right-wing. Gollnick beat the Middlebury defenseman with a pass to junior forward Holley Riva in the slot, who buried the puck behind Merageas.

The Soaring Eagles were unable to complete the comeback.

Kuehberger made 29 saves in the 3-2 loss for Elmira, while Merageas stopped 16 of the 18 shots she faced in the Middlebury goal.

With the win, Middlebury advanced to Saturday’s Division III Women’s Ice Hockey National Championship Game against Gustavus Adolphus, while Elmira fell to the third-place game against Plattsburgh. Gallery