Amherst's Liz Martin scored six goals, four in the final 11 minutes, to lead the Lady Jeffs to an 11-9 dethroning of two-time defending champion Middlebury in the Division III Women's Lacrosse Championship game May 18 at St. John Fisher. The Jeffs' victory snapped the Panthers' 51-game win streak, which dated back to the 2000 semifinals.

Amherst (16-2), which had been been bridesmaid in three of the last five years, claimed its first title, defeating its conference rival in the third meeting between the teams this year. The Panthers won the first two games, 16-5, during the regular season, and 9-5 in the championship game of the New England Small College Athletic Conference tournament.

"We see their zone so much it's really challenging to attack it, and Middlebury likes to play a fast-paced game," said Amherst coach Christine Paradis. "I think each game we tried something different. In the first game, we tried to play at their pace; the second game we took a lot of time off with each possession and they started to play one-on-one pressure defense."

This day's new approach worked better.

"Today we tried to push the ball up field and take time off the clock and at the same time, if something good was there a minute into our possession, we decided to take it," she said. "That kind of gave our players the green light, and Allison Aldrich stepped up and (Laura) Schifter and Abby (Ouimet) had some great feeds to Martin."

Ouimet assisted on the Jeffs' first two goals, the second one coming from Martin, to bring Amherst back from a 1-0 deficit and give the eventual champions what proved to be their only lead of the game until Martin's game-winning goal with 3:18 left that gave the Jeffs a 10-9 advantage. Ouimet closed the victory with a goal with four seconds remaining.

While Martin and Ouimet provided the offense, senior goalie Brooke Diamond made 12 saves and was selected the most outstanding player. She finished with totals of 25 saves and 19 goals-allowed in the two games.

"There aren't words to say what Brooke has meant to this team," Paradis said. "From an inspiration point of view and the fact that she plays every minute every practice and game like it's the final minute of the championship game."

After Amherst gained the 2-1 lead, the Panthers put together a string of first-half goals, two coming from Nuala O'Donohoe, to go up, 5-2, with 12 minutes left in the first half. Amherst's defense held the defending champions scoreless for the rest of the period, allowing Martin's second goal to carve the deficit to 5-3 at the half.

Aldrich cut the lead to one goal with an unassisted score two minutes into the second half. After Middlebury freshman Elizabeth Renehan's goal made it 6-4, Aldrich -- from the top of the 15-yard circle -- found senior Erin Beaumont just outside the crease to pull Amherst to within one goal. Then Aldrich's third goal of the game tied the score at 6 on a feed from Schifter.

Middlebury didn't wait long to regain the lead as senior Katie Simpson scored a goal and Meg Bonney added another for an 8-6 Panthers lead after collecting a ground ball after Kristen Hanley's shot bounced off the left pipe.

Martin brought Amherst back with two goals in the next three minutes, tying the game with 8:21 to play. Hanley gave Middlebury a 9-8 lead with 7:02 to play, but the Amherst defense and Diamond held the Panthers scoreless in the final seven minutes as Martin took over offensively.

The Amherst star scored her final two goals on free-position shots, the first coming at the 4:40 mark to tie the game at nine after being fouled by Middlebury middie Caitlin McCormick. Martin's last sealed the victory with 3:18 go, setting up the gravy goal from Ouimet as time ran out.

Teammates Ouimet, Martin, Schifter and Annie Jamieson joined Diamond on the all-tournament team. Middlebury honorees were Simpson, Kate Perine and Char Glessner. William Smith's Amanda Wynn and Meghan Fitzgerald also were honored, as were Carin Heller and Katie Wagenblast of College of New Jersey.

Championship summary

Gordon 15, Cabrini 8; Wheaton (Mass.) 14, Bridgewater St. 9; Colorado Col. 13, Wooster 7.

Col. of New Jersey 16, Gordon 3; Mary Washington 12, Wash. & Lee 7; Gettysburg 18, Scranton 11; Amherst 20, Cortland St. 9; Middlebury 13, Wheaton (Mass.) 7; Williams 11, Ithaca 5; Salisbury 15, Colorado Col. 8; William Smith 7, St. Mary's (Md.) 4.

Col. Of New Jersey 11, Mary Washington 5; Amherst 12, Gettysburg 5; Middlebury 14, Williams 5; William Smith 12, Salisbury 11.

Amherst scoring: Abby Ouimet 4; Liz Martin 3; Scotty Hanley 2; Erin Beaumont 1; Mary Kate Allen 1; Jackie Sargent 1.

Col. of New Jersey scoring: Carin Heller 3; Katie Wagenblast 2; Tara Prindible 1; Liz O'Connor 1; Bridget Bigley 1; Lauren Dougher 1; Jackie Scullin 1.

Shots: Amherst 24, Col. Of New Jersey 35. Saves: Amherst -- Brooke Diamond 13; Col. Of New Jersey -- Jen Munday 3.

William Smith scoring: Megan Shea 2; Amanda Wynn 1; Brighde Dougherty 1.

Middlebury College scoring: Meg Bonney 4; Nuala O'Donohoe 3; Char Glessner 3; Katie Simpson 2; Alison Perencevich 2; Beth Seeley 2; Schuyler Winstead 2; Kristin Hanley 1; Dalton Cox 1.

Shots: William Smith 30, Middlebury 49. Saves: William Smith -- Rebecca Splain13; Middlebury -- Sarah Grenert 10, Johanna Rosenfield 2.

Championship

Middlebury scoring: Meg Bonney 2, Char Glessner 2, Nuala O'Donohoe 2, Katie Simpson 1, Kristin Hanley 1, Elizabeth Renehan 1.

Amherst scoring: Liz Martin 6, Allison Aldrich 3, Abby Ouimet 1, Erin Beaumont 1.

Shots: Middlebury 32, Amherst 19. Saves: Middlebury -- Sarah Grenert 3; Amherst -- Brooke Diamond 12.