MIDDLEBURY, Vt. -- The fifth-seeded and No. 14 nationally ranked Bates field hockey team won an absolute stunner in the NESCAC semifinals on Saturday, knocking off six-time defending NESCAC and NCAA champion No. 1 Middlebury by a count of 2-1, advancing to the conference championship game for the first time in program history.

"It was an incredible moment for Bates field hockey, and a heroic defensive effort," head coach Dani Kogut said. "The guts it took to finish the fourth quarter was exceptional. We are so proud of these women and it was truly a great day to be a Bobcat!"

Senior Anna Cote (New Gloucester, Maine) scored on a penalty stroke in the 47th minute to put the Bobcats (12-5) ahead for good. 

The remarkable victory took an incredible defensive effort all day from Bates, as they held off 26 Middlebury shots, 16 of which were on goal. The Panthers (15-2) earned 18 penalty corners, including 10 in the fourth quarter, but converted none of them. Sophomore Haley Dwight (West Newbury, Mass.) made four defensive saves for Bates, giving her a NESCAC-leading 13 on the season. Sophomore Amy LaBelle (Barrington, R.I.) made a pair of defensive saves of her own and first-year goalkeeper Ava Donohue (Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y.) stood tall with nine saves in the cage for Bates.

Middlebury struck first in the contest, with Amy Griffin scoring in just the second minute of action. The hosts dominated the first quarter, tallying 10 shots to none for Bates. Dwight made two of her defensive saves in the opening 15 minutes, helping keep the score 1-0 through one.

The Bobcats tallied the equalizer in the 17th minute of action. They earned a penalty corner, and junior Brooke Moloney-Kolenberg (Winchester, Mass.) delivered the insert to the top of the shooting area. Senior captain Amanda Zerbib (Larchmont, N.Y.) fired a shot that was turned away by Middlebury goalkeeper Izzy Redzic. The ball deflected over to the near post, where Moloney-Kolenberg was waiting. She was able to gather the ball and shuffle it home for her seventh goal of the season.

Neither team scored for the remainder of the second quarter, with both teams only tallying a pair of shots each, as the game stood tied at one at halftime.

The Panthers came out firing in the third quarter, out-shooting Bates 7-0. But only three of the shots landed on goal, and Donohue was there each time for the save. Four penalty corners came up empty for the hosts.

Bates flipped the script early in the fourth quarter, earning three consecutive penalty corners in the opening two minutes. On the third one, a stroke got called when Cote's shot got illegally blocked after she'd beaten the keeper. Cote went low-right on her penalty stroke attempt against Middlebury goalkeeper Madeline DiLemme, sneaking it past her for Cote's team-leading 11th goal of the season.

It also proved to be Cote's sixth game-winning goal of the year, but it took some ferocious defense down the stretch to hold off the six-time defending champions.

At one point, Middlebury earned eight straight penalty corners, only to get turned away time and time again. Donohue made three saves during this sequence and Dwight capped off the game of her career with a defensive save in the 56th minute. 

The Panthers emptied the net in the 57th minute and proceeded to earn two more penalty corners. But one shot got blocked and Griffin's attempt in the 60th minute went wide as the Bobcats held on for the biggest win in program history. 

The win snaps Middlebury's 25-game home winning streak and is the first victory for Bates field hockey over the Panthers since 1995.

Bates takes on No. 3 Tufts in the NESCAC championship game Sunday at noon on Middlebury's campus.