CASTLETON, Vt. – The Castleton field hockey team fought for all 60 minutes Wednesday night, but came up just short against a tough Plymouth State team, falling 3-2 in front of the home crowd.
The Spartans (4-7, 2-3 LEC) came out of the gate strong, converting on their first chance of the game to give themselves the early lead. Just under two minutes in,
Emily Harris dribbled the ball into the circle and ripped it, forcing Plymouth's goalie to make a save. Acting quickly after the denial,
Kimberly McCarthy scooped the ball up and over the Panthers' keeper toward a waiting
Payton Barlow, who snuck the ball into the near post to give Castleton the 1-0 advantage.
The teams would trade blows for the next 10 minutes, with Plymouth (6-3, 4-2 LEC) getting off four shots compared to two more from the Spartans, before the Panthers' Taylor Healey found the equalizer off of a corner to make it a 1-1 game after one.
Plymouth State would continue their offensive onslaught into the second quarter, getting off two shots in the first couple minutes before a Natalie Perry goal would see Castleton go down 2-1. The Spartans would fight off three consecutive penalty corners and a green card on
Kaitlin Bardellini toward the end of the quarter to enter the break down just one.
Castleton entered the third quarter with a sense of urgency and were able to convert off of their first corner of the day to once again even the score. Bardellini and Harris did a nice one-two to set up Bardellini with a shot on goal, but her initial attempt was saved by the Panthers' keeper. Waiting there for the rebound, however, was
Theresa Culpo who one-timed the shot into the back of the cage to tie the game at two and hand the sophomore her first career goal. The teams would go even the rest of the way and enter the final period in a deadlock.
Similar to the second quarter, Plymouth State came out swinging in the final frame, earning three penalty corners and forcing three saves from
Hannah Frittenburg in the opening three minutes. Finally on their fourth shot of the quarter, Healey redirected a ball past the Spartan keeper to giver the Panthers the lead back.
Frittenburg tallied 11 saves on the day, the fourth time she has reached double digits on the year, and was vital in keeping the game close.
Each side saw opportunities over the final 10 minutes, with Harris getting two good looks in the latter half of the quarter for the Spartans, but both goalies stood tall and kept the score at 3-2 to hand Castleton the tough home loss.
Despite the final result, the Spartans will have plenty to take away from Wednesday night's game, and will look to get back in the win column Saturday Oct. 9 as they travel to take on the University of Southern Maine. First pass is set for 1:00 p.m.
