UTICA, N.Y. – The Castleton University women's lacrosse team dropped the third game of a five-game road stretch to start the season, falling at Utica by a final score of 22-3 on Monday night.
 
The Spartans are now 1-2 on the season, while Utica improves to 1-3 after its first win of the 2021 campaign. Utica held a 42-5 edge in shots on the day, including a 31-4 edge in shots on goal. Castleton was plagued by 28 turnovers, only 10 of the caused, while Utica turned it over 17 times in the contest. The Pioneers also held a 19-8 edge in draw controls and a 22-12 advantage in ground balls. Utica was 7-of-9 clearing the ball, and held Castleton to just 7-of-22 on the clear.
 
Lacey Greenamyre, Katie Opiela and Kimberly McCarthy all scored goals for the Spartans in the loss. McCarthy's goal gave her a goal in each of Castleton's first three games this season, while Greenamyre led the team with five draw controls on the night. Both McCarthy and Greenamyre had a team-high three ground balls. Raven Payne suffered the loss, playing the first 30 minutes of the contest and making six saves while allowing 15 goals. Emi Harlow played 15 minutes with two saves and three goals allowed, and Carly Curtis played the final 15 minutes, making one save with four goals against.
 
Utica was led by four-point outings from Samantha DeCondo and Lauren Wolff as both players scored three times with an assist each. Alyssa Drell and Katherine Migliori had three points apiece, and four others had two-point games for the Pioneers. Lexi Scaccia had a team-high five draw controls and three ground balls. Three goalies split time for the Pioneers, with Claire Frier earning the win in 26 minutes of action with one save.
 
Utica scored the first 10 goals of the game, taking a 10-0 lead just 10 minutes into the game. Greenamyre stopped the bleeding momentarily with her fifth goal of the season, but the Pioneers rattled off four more goals over the next three minutes to take a 14-1 lead late in the first half. McCarthy logged her eighth goal of the season with 3:46 to go in the half, making it 14-2, and Utica tacked on one more before the break to lead 15-2 going into the second half.
 
The Pioneers got on the board three more times to open the second half before Opiela notched her first goal of the season, making it 18-3 with 13:38 to play. Utica logged the final four goals of the game, ending the night with a 22-3 victory for the Pioneers.
 
Castleton is back in action Wednesday at Skidmore at 4 p.m.