CASTLETON, Vt. – In a game of momentum swings, junior Blake Wardwell (Bridgewater, Vt.) provided the exclamation point for the Spartans as she capped off Castleton's 4-3 overtime victory over Keene St. on Thursday evening at Spartan Stadium. 

Wardwell scored three of the Spartans' four goals for her first hat trick of the season. None was more vital than the game winning shot with just 4:25 left in overtime as Castleton completed the come-from-behind victory.

Playing just 7-on-7 in the extra session, Wardwell andRachel Preusser (Craryville, N.Y.) found themselves in a 2-on-1 advantage on a full sprint to goal. Preusser drew the defender in on the far side of the net before slipping a pass to the streaking Wardwell, who making a diving stab at the ball and slid it inside the near post, under a sprawled out Caitlin Divine-Draper (Hanover, Mass.). The junior was then mobbed by her teammates right next to the net.

Castleton outshot the Owls 37-19 for the game and had a 20-15 advantage in penalty corners as the Spartans improve to 10-2 with thewin, the best 12-game start in program history. Keene St. drops to 9-6 on the season with the loss.

Castleton came out the aggressor and was rewarded off a penalty corner in the 19th minute. The ball came out to the top of shootingcircle and was passed to Kealy Chipman (Bellows Falls, Vt.) on the far side. She took a dribble inside the circle before finding Blake Wardwell (Bridgewater, Vt.) in front for the goal.

Keene St. responded less than thee minutes later off apenalty corner. Melissa Habelow (Belmont, Mass.) took a few dribbles beforeripping the shot from the top of the shooting circle. Alexandra Billert (Center Conway, N.H.) screened Jessica Galatioto (Queensbury, N.Y.) and got on stick on the ball to deflect it in for the score.

Wardwell scored just 30 seconds into the second half to push the Spartan lead to 2-1. The junior got the ball on the near side of the shooting circle and ripped shot into the back of the cage off a pass from Mercedes Maltbie (Warrensburg, N.Y.)

The Owls wouldn't go down easy and tied the game up four minutes later as Lyndsie Rabenius (North Hampton, N.H.) scored off an assist from Leddy Gallagher (Acton, Mass.).

Knotted at two, no one scored again until the 62nd minute, when Billert notched her second goal of the game on a penalty corner strokefrom the top of the shooting circle.

Trailing by one, freshman Maria Stern (Springfield, Vt.) came up big two minutes later. She dribbled the ball into the shooting circle and around a defender before firing a shot on net, past Davino-Drape with just 6:31 remaining.

In overtime, both teams had numerous opportunities, but both defenses make huge stops on potential 2-on-1 breakaways before Wardwell wasable to break through with 4:25 left.

Castleton returns to action on Saturday when the team hosts the University of Maine at Farmington at 1 pm in Spartan Stadium.