CASTLETON, Vt. – The Castleton University women's lacrosse team dropped a shootout Sunday afternoon, falling to Fitchburg State by a final score of 19-14 at Dave Wolk Stadium.

The Spartans fall to 1-3 on the season, while Fitchburg State improves to 3-1 overall. The Falcons held an edge in shots, 46-41, and ground balls, 27-22, while converting 23-of-26 clears. Castleton was 17-of-27 clearing the ball. The Spartans finished the day with a 19-17 edge in draw controls after winning 11-of-16 in the second half. Castleton had 27 turnovers, 17 forced, while Fitchburg State had 25, 13 of which were forced.

Erin Shuttle led the Spartans with four goals and two assists, tying for a game-high with six points. She also led all players with eight draw controls. Morgan Derosia added four goals as well, while Aubra Linn recorded the first hat trick of her career. Elizabeth Lumbra had a pair of goals for Castleton, while Nicolle Trivino, who led the team with six ground-ball pick-ups, rounded out the scoring with her first goal of the season. Trivino and Derosia caused three turnovers each, but Spartan goalie Raven Payne led the team with four caused turnovers in the contest. Payne picked off four passes in addition to her 15 saves on the day, finishing with five ground balls as well.

Madison Alves racked up five goals and one assist for Fitchburg State, with Eva Kozikowski scoring three times with three assists for a six-point game as well. Julia Miele had three goals and two helpers, while Gabrielle Scibilia had three goals and one assist. Tracy Long added two goals and three assists in addition to five ground balls. Francesca Reyes made 12 saves in goal for Fitchburg State, earning her third win of the season.

Both offenses came to play in the opening minutes of the game, as Fitchburg State scored just 54 seconds into action on a goal from Scibilia, assisted by Kozikowski. Shuttle tied it at 1-1 just 11 seconds later, winning the draw and carrying the length of the field to score. Fitchburg then scored three goals in a two-minute span to take a 4-1 lead, but Shuttle buried a free-position goal to make it a 4-2 game. After a Falcon goal from Long, Lumbra got her first score of the day for the Spartans, making it 5-3 less than eight minutes into the contest. The Falcons then rattled off three goals in a 53-second span, extending their lead to 8-3 as Long, Scibilia and Kozikowski scored in succession.

Castleton answered with two goals of its own, knocking the deficit back to 8-5, as Lumbra and Derosia found the back of the net. Fitchburg State responded swiftly, scoring on a man-up opportunity with 14:01 to play before the break, then again just 26 seconds later to make it 10-5. Linn got her first goal of the game to stop the bleeding, knocking in a bouncing ball to draw Castleton with four, 10-6. That was the last score of the half for the Spartans, but Fitchburg State tacked on three more goals heading into the break.

Trailing 13-6 coming out of halftime, the Spartans scored three goals in a row to narrow the lead back to four—13-9. Shuttle completed her hat trick just 1:33 into the half, before Derosia and Linn's second goal each brought Castleton closer with 24:29 to play. The Falcons found their groove again, however, answering Castleton's three-goal run with a four-goal spurt of their own. Miele scored twice to start the run, before Nicole Kopacz and Alves finished it with goals of their own.

Castleton responded with three more goals in a row, as Linn completed her hat trick before Trivino got on the board. Derosia capped the run with her third score of the day, making it a 17-12 game with 12:08 remaining. Shuttle assisted on both Trivino and Derosia's goals. The Falcons tacked on two more goals, however, as Alves netted her fifth of the day and Scibilia her third to make it 19-12 with 7:16 left on the clock. Castleton pulled back within five, 19-14, with four minutes to play after Shuttle and Derosia scored within 42 seconds of one another, but each team went scoreless over the final four minutes of play as the horn sounded on the 19-14 final score.

Castleton returns to action Tuesday night at 6 p.m. at Dave Wolk Stadium when the Spartans host Plattsburgh State.