CASTLETON, Vt. – The Castleton field hockey team never trailed by more than one goal in the contest, but couldn't overcome the Thomas defense, as the Terriers claimed a 2-1 victory at Spartan Stadium this evening.

Meeghan Doris turned in arguably her best performance of the season with 18 saves, including two on penalty strokes, while Ariel Mroz-Brewer provided three defensive saves, as the Spartans fell to 2-5 overall and 0-1 in the NAC. Thomas, meanwhile, improved to 4-5 on the year with the victory.

After more than 26 minutes of play, Thomas struck first, as Brooklyn Curry grabbed her second goal of the year. Doris stopped the Curry's initial shot, but the junior was there to finish her own rebound and put the Terriers in front by one.

It seemed that the away side was going to double its lead in the 29th minute when a penalty stroke was awarded. However, Doris made an impressive diving save towards the near post to deny the effort and maintain Castleton's one-goal deficit. 

Less than a minute after Doris' save, the Spartans tied the contest thanks to Haley Spittle. Erin Cournoyer lifted a pass to Spittle in the box, and the junior attacker collected the pass before finishing it past the goalie to bring the game back to level terms at 1-1.

The Terriers struck again just over six minutes into the second half to reclaim the lead, 2-1. Abigail Dunn had the ball deep in the box and delivered a pass across the crease to Emily Leighton, who slipped the ball just inside the far post to hand the away side a one-goal advantage.

Two minutes later, the Terriers had another golden opportunity to double their advantage after receiving their second penalty stroke of the contest. However, Doris came up huge again for the Spartans with another diving effort to maintain the 2-1 score. 

With just over two minutes remaining the Spartans received a penalty corner, which resulted in the squad's best attempt of the second half. After Haley Spittle's shot was blocked, Emily Hudson gathered the ball and fired a shot on goal, but it struck off the far post and was cleared from play en route to the 2-1 Thomas victory.

Doris moved to 2-5 on the season after playing all 70 minutes in the cage with just two goals allowed, while her counterpart, Abbie Charrier, produced one save to capture her fourth win of the year.

Castleton returns to action on Tuesday, Sept. 29 when they travel to Amherst, Mass. to square off with the fifteenth-ranked Lord Jeffs at 7 pm.