It was a defensive battle up on the Middlesex turf Saturday, but the Zebras took the win after a back-and-forth stanza in the final minutes of play.  The two teams took on different defensive styles, but both methods proved successful for the first five minutes of play.  Deerfield notched the first goals with two inside feeds with 19:48 and 15:20 remaining, but the Zebra defense tightened up for the remainder of the half leaving the Deerfield scoreless.  On the offensive end, the attackers were a bit rushed, yet notched some unconventional goals from Fehnel, MacMaster, and Gildehaus to take a 3-2 lead at the half.  In the second half. Deerfield tied it up three minutes into the half, but the defensive unit again held their opponents off for 13 minutes.  Bevacqua, Gildehaus, and MacMaster combined for two goals to take a 5-3 lead, but Deerfield capitalized on a ground ball scrum, leaving an attacker wide open in front, closing the Zebra lead to one.  Middlesex again took a two goal lead with 6:16, and with help on the draw from Soph MacKeigan, the Zebras gained control.  Turnovers at both ends of the field resulted in a back and forth battle and a final goal from Deerfield with 29 seconds remaining, but the Zebras held onto the win.  The hero of the second half was goalie Caroline "Fish" Fischer, who earned 15 saves on the day, and 5 crucial game-saving saves in the final minutes of play.