ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y. – The Castleton University women's lacrosse team dropped its season-opening contest Friday night, falling 15-11 to Bard in non-conference action.

Erin Shuttle racked up six goals and two assists for an eight-point night for the Spartans, while Morgan Derosia had four points on three goals and an assist. Derosia also led the team with six ground balls. Aubra Linn had a goal and an assist while Megan Krumm rounded out the Spartans' scorers with one goal. Raven Payne had 12 saves on the night, stopping 44.4 percent of the shots she faced.

Bard was led by four different players with three goals apiece, headlined by three goals and three assists from Caleigh DeCaprio. Melissa Rosenthal had three goals and two helpers while Rachael Yoder and Gillian Adkins had three scores each. Adkins had a game-high 10 draw controls, while Madison Brown led the Raptors with six ground balls. Both Bard goalies made two saves apiece as Izabel Kickner and Roxanne Rouskas played 30 minutes each.

The Raptors held a 29-15 edge in ground balls and a 21-7 edge in draw controls. Both sides racked up the turnovers, as Castleton had 28 and Bard 25. The Spartans were 13-of-25 on the clear and Bard was 8-of-14 clearing the ball.

The Spartans fell behind early, as Bard scored the first three goals of the game while controlling possession for the first four minutes of play. Shuttle got Castleton on the board at the 4:33 mark, taking the ball the length of the field unassisted and scoring to make it 3-1. The goal started a string of five alternating goals as Bard stretched its lead to three before Castleton narrowed it to two three times. Shuttle scored her second to make it 4-2, before Derosia's first goal make it a 5-3 game. Linn got her first goal of the season late in the half to cut the lead to 9-4 after a four-goal run by Bard, and Shuttle completed the hat trick with 6:39 to play in the half on a free-position goal.

The two sides again traded goals to open the half, giving Bard an 11-6 lead seven minutes into the stanza. Shuttle rattled off three straight goals to bring Castleton within two, 11-9, but Bard answered back with three of its own to push the lead back to five goals—14-9. Krumm snapped the Raptors' scoring streak with a goal to make it 14-10, followed by Derosia's third score of the game with just 4:05 left to make it 14-11. Bard tacked on a late goal to give the game its final score, 15-11.

Castleton is back in action Sunday afternoon at Norwich. Opening draw is slated for 1 p.m. at Sabine Field in Northfield.