CASTLETON, Vt. – The Castleton field hockey team dropped a 9-1 decision to Keene State on Thursday afternoon at Spartan Stadium.

With the loss, the Spartans fall to 4-9 on the season and remain 1-1 in the North Atlantic Conference East, while Keene State improves to 11-3 and are currently a perfect 6-0 in conference matchups.

Keene State wasted no time getting on the board as Jensyn Dandeneau took a feed from Julia Babbitt 5:09 into the contest to take an early 1-0 lead. Less than two minutes later, Dandeneau tallied her second goal of the contest at 7:03 with an assist from Sami Smith to put the Owls up 2-0.

Castleton fought back with three straight shots on goal over a three-minute span between Haley Spittle and Sarah Wells, but the Spartans were held off the scoreboard until Emily Lowell pocketed a rebound from a Wells shot at the corner of the cage to cut the Owls lead in half, 2-1, at the 15:33 mark of the half. Keene State went on to score four consecutive goals over the final 19 minutes of the first half to take a 6-1 lead into the break. 

After being outshot 20-8 in the opening stanza, the Spartans defense buckled in the second half, allowing just nine shots. Despite recording eight shots in the second half, the Spartans could not find the back of the cage and Keene State tallied three more goals to take the 9-1 victory.

Spittle, Wells, and Rachel Holland each tallied three shots on goal, but Lowell's team-leading ninth goal of the season stood as the only points on the afternoon for the Spartans. 

Senior goalkeeper Meeghan Doris faced 14 shots on goal and made eight saves in the first half, despite falling to 1-5 on the season. Tashia Pashby-Rockwood played the final 35 minutes in the cage, while notching four saves for the Spartans.  

Castleton return to action at 7 p.m. on Saturday to face New England College in a key NAC East contest at Spartan Stadium.