New Identity, Same Old Middlebury

The seniors on the Middlebury women’s lacrosse team came up with team motto for the 2026 season — “Leave it better.” It’s a philosophy defender and captain Caroline Messer said is guiding the team during this final stretch of the season.

It’ll be a challenge, though, to leave the situation at Middlebury any better than the seniors found it. That’s because it can’t get much better. The Panthers have won four consecutive NCAA championships and have lost a total of two games over the course of the past five seasons.

They also won the 2019 national championship and watched as Salisbury hoisted the crown coming out of COVID-19 cancellations in 2021. The NESCAC did not hold athletic competitions in 2021, meaning Middlebury has won the last five NCAA tournaments it has participated in.

“When we leave a field, we’re not leaving any balls out,” Messer said. “When we leave the bus, we’re not leaving any trash. When we’re at the hotel as a team, we’re not leaving a mess. It’s those specific, literal things that we’re leaving places better.

“But then, in every interaction we have with a teammate, make sure we’re leaving them as happy as they can be. Leave every conversation in a good spot. … You can apply it in any situation, which is why it was a quote that really resonated with all of us.”

That attitude and that attention to detail helped to continue a strong culture that has lifted Middlebury to another undefeated regular season, the top seed in the NESCAC tournament, and the No. 1 ranking in the USA Lacrosse Division III Women’s Top 20, presented by CWENCH Hydration, since the preseason.

Middlebury plays fourth-seeded Trinity in the NESCAC semifinals on Thursday.

Despite everything Middlebury had accomplished coming into this season, there was some intrigue surrounding the Panthers. After graduating 14 seniors, including two-time IWLCA Player of the Year Hope Shue, head coach Kate Livesay said she could feel that “nobody’s expecting massive things from us.”

The external target on Middlebury seeming smaller was a freeing and exciting feeling for Livesay.

“I would say the word ‘opportunity’ comes to mind,” Livesay said. “There was an opportunity to reimagine the way that way play and evaluating our systems and trying to think creatively about the strengths of this specific group and how to draw those out in different ways. I knew it would be a season where we could try new things. That was a focus to be curious and develop and give opportunity to folks.”

On attack, the team had big cleats to fill as Shue set team records for career points (391), career goals (306), single-season points (116) and single-season goals (86). Though the team returned seniors Caroline Adams and Skylar Lach, who finished third and fourth on the team in points last season, Livesay said it was a fun part of being a coach to see who else would contribute.

Production has come from players across all classes. Senior Haley Hamilton had scored one goal in her first three seasons, but in 2026, she’s second on the team in goals (47) and points (53).

Sophomore Maeve Lee has tripled her goal total from last season (eight to 24) and freshman Parker Hanson is second on the team in assists (21). Hanson has tallied an assist in nine of her last 10 games, and in her last eight games has 18 assists.

“They’re people who’ve taken the first half of the season to learn, and now we’re seeing them really grow and start to understand all the ways they can impact,” Livesay said.

Adams, who stepped into the role of top scorer and team captain, said one of the team’s strengths has been its ability to connect with each other and score assisted goals or scoring after the ball touches everyone’s stick. She called it a rewarding experience to give back to the team in a way leaders did with her when she was a younger player.

“We talk a lot about trust on our team and trusting each other to do our best,” Adams said. “That includes making mistakes. I think a really important thing is to keep building people up because without mistakes, we aren’t going to get any better.”

Livesay wanted to make tactical adjustments on the other end of the field, too. She felt opposing teams had gotten used to how the Panthers defended.

Messer said they might not have fully understood the ins and outs of the defense from day one, but they were excited to give it a try. The players learned in the preseason to take risks, which helped everyone understand where the group was most dangerous. An adaptable and athletic group, the unit can deploy different players or tactics depending on the opposition, which Messer said “helps bring this defense to life.”

The proof has been in the pudding. Middlebury is tied for second in the nation in scoring defense, allowing only 4.94 goals per game. Only once all season has an opponent scored 10 goals.

The Panthers have also only gotten more confident as the season has progressed.

Against Tufts, Middlebury trailed 7-4 in the third quarter. It went on to score seven of the next 10 goals to win the game, 11-10. Adams said the team hadn’t been asked to keep its composure like they had to against the Jumbos, but she said they kept “doing the little things we knew we had to do.” It taught them they could dig deep and come from behind.

After the team’s penultimate game of the regular season, a 13-7 victory over sixth-ranked Amherst, Messer said the game was so cohesive that the seniors said, “Well, we just need to go all the way again this year.”

As the team prepares for what they hope is a deep run in the postseason, Livesay said the message from her is to remember to stay in the moment and remember how each individual contributes to the whole.

“No one has to be different for us to be great,” Livesay said. “They just need to give their best. Keep things small and doable, for a lack of a better word. I believe one of the things this team is good at is not looking too far ahead, not thinking down the road, but staying in the moment.:

Messer said the culture built over the past four years and the lessons the seniors learned from the leaders before them has helped the program enjoy sustained success. Without those previous leaders, the class of 2026 has made it a point to give the younger players confidence, support each other, and push each other.

For Adams, that also has meant to share the biggest lessons she’s learned over the course of her four years with Middlebury and honoring the players that have come through the program before them and brought them to this point.

“It’s about the people,” she said. “It’s about the relationships that we develop. It’s about trust. It’s about loving each other. It’s about playing for each other. It’s about learning from our coaches, taking all these little nuggets we’ve learned along the way and putting them into action, enjoying the process. When we all are pushing each other, having fun, loving the experience, that’s when greatness arises and we see the best of ourselves.”

“Staying grounded in why we do this and who we do this for is the most special thing I will take away from this,” she added.