Division III No. 5 Middlebury College Overcomes Division III No. 3 Washington University in St. Louis, 14-11, to Capture Inaugural/2019 Women’s Division III Collegiate Club Championship

VILLANOVA, Pa. — Alaina Pribis (Sr., Concord, N.H.) scored six times to earn Player of the Game and Tournament Most Valuable Player honors as Division III No. 5-ranked Middlebury College led throughout to claim a 14-11 victory over Division III No. 3 Washington University in St. Louis in the title game of the inaugural/2019 Women’s Division III Collegiate Club Championship at Villanova University.

• Competing in the inaugural Women’s Division III Collegiate Club Championship title game, the Panthers of Middlebury built a 3-0 lead by the 4:43 mark of the first quarter and never looked back in holding leads of 5-4, 9-6 and 11-9 by the conclusion of the first, second and third quarters, respectively.  Middlebury closed out the game by outscoring the Bears of Washington by a 3-2 count over the final seven minutes to claim a three-goal margin of victory.
• Trailing 10-6 with 6:06 left in the third quarter, Washington appeared primed to shift the momentum in its favor as the team accounted for three straight goals via a five-meter penalty shot by Lailey Khatibloo (Fr., Seattle, Wash.) at 5:52 prior to her pumping in back-to-back natural goals with 1:40 and 43 seconds left on the clock.
• However, a man-up score by Virginia Stanley (So., Wallingford, Conn.) with 16 ticks left on the third quarter clock snuffed the Bears’ comeback prior to Pribis opening the fourth quarter with a dagger (3:58) to return the Panthers’ lead to 12-9.
• Washington moved back to within a pair at 12-10 with 3:28 remaining courtesy a power-play score by Khatibloo, but man-up goals from Pribis (2:11) and Jenna Kotcher (So., Mountainview, Calif.) (1:23) enlarged the spread to 14-10.  Paige Coughlin (Sr., Broadview, Ohio) rounded out the scoring as she tossed in yet another man-up strike with 43 seconds left in regulation for the 14-11 final.
• For Middlebury, Emily Chu (So., Claremont, Calif.) scored four times with Kotcher and Stanley both rattling the iron with pairs to join Pribis in tallying multi-goal games. 
• Khatibloo led all scorers with seven goals for Washington.  Jennie Greenstein (Sr., Menlo Park, Calif.) notched a pair with Coughlin and CJ Wilson (Gr., Atlanta, Georgia) chipping in solo tallies.
  
• Following the game, Pribis received Tournament Most Valuable Player honors for finishing with 17 goals over the two-day event – including six goals versus Division III No. 7 Carleton College (18-2 W) and five more versus Division III No. 8 New York University (13-4 W).
• Washington University in St. Louis head coach Dave Jimenez was named the Coach of the Tournament.
• Following the title game, the 2019 Women’s Division III Collegiate Club Championship All-Tournament Team was announced: