NEW LONDON, Conn. – The Castleton University women's lacrosse team opened its 2021 season with a victory on Thursday evening, downing Mitchell College by a final score of 16-9 on a rain-soaked afternoon.
Kimberly McCarthy paced the 1-0 Spartans with six goals and an assist in the win, while Lacey Greenamyre had a six-point day with four goals and two assists. Greenamyre also had 10 ground balls, seven caused turnovers and six draw controls in her Spartan debut. Aubra Linn and Cheyanne Stone added two goals and an assist each, while Ava Cochran had one score and one helper. Maddie Brasser rounded out the Spartan scorers with a lone goal. Raven Payne earned the victory in goal, playing 42 minutes and making four saves. Emi Harlow and Carly Curtis also saw action between the pipes for the Spartans.
Hannah Corrigan led Mitchell with five goals on the day, while Daniella Holland added two goals of her own. Lindsey Fairbank and Kathryn Barillaro had one goal and one assist each. Fairbank also led all players with 11 draw controls. Hannah Gomes shouldered the loss for the Mariners, making nine saves while allowing all 16 Spartan goals.
Castleton held a 38-22 edge in shots, 38-31 edge in ground balls and turned it over 29 times compared to Mitchell's 43. Mitchell won draw controls at a higher rate, 17-9, but Castleton was more successful on the clear, going 16-of-28 compared to 11-of-21 for Mitchell.
The Spartans got on the board first, as Greenamyre notched the first goal of the campaign for the Spartans less than four minutes into the contest. The lead doubled to two goals when Stone found the back of the net just minutes later, but Mitchell responded with a pair of scores to knot the game up at 2-2.
Castleton got back on a scoring run with goals from McCarthy and Brasser, taking a 4-2 lead with just under 12 minutes remaining in the first half. Mitchell cut the gap back to one with less than five minutes to play in the half, but McCarthy struck again with 3:40 to go before the break to keep Castleton ahead by two, 5-3. Castleton extended its lead with two more late goals coming just 17 seconds apart, as Cochran notched her first goal of the season followed by a Linn score with less than one minute to play before the break.
McCarthy wasted no time in the second half completing her hat trick, scoring less than three minutes into the final stanza to make it 8-3 Spartans. Corrigan completed the hat trick of her own for Mitchell to make it 8-4, but Greenamyre scored again for the Spartans—this time a player down—to push the lead back to 9-4 with 21:45 to play. The Mariners refused to go away, scoring two unanswered goals less than one minute apart to cut the Castleton lead back to three, 9-6.
After Mitchell's sixth score, Castleton called timeout to regroup and stop the run. The call worked, as the Spartans won the ensuing draw control and marched down the field, where Greenamyre completed the hat trick of her own to make it a 10-6 game. Castleton continued to pour on the insurance goals late, out-scoring Mitchell 6-3 over the final 15 minutes, including goals from Linn, McCarthy, Stone and Greenamyre.
Castleton is back in action Saturday at St. Lawrence at 3:30 p.m.
