ALBANY, N.Y. – The Castleton University women's lacrosse team battled back-and-forth with Russell Sage College for the full 60 minutes on Saturday afternoon, but a two-goal first-quarter deficit proved to be the difference in the end as the Spartans fell by a final score of 12-10 in non-conference road action.
Castleton (0-3) was in action for the first time in nearly two weeks after a pair of postponements a week ago, but played a tight contest with Sage on the scoreboard and the stat sheet. Castleton collected 53 ground balls—its most in a game since 2012—while Sage had 58. The Gators outshot Castleton 32-24, but Castleton put 19 shots on goal to Sage's 24. Castleton had 18 successful clears to Sage's 20, and the Spartans won 11 draw controls while Sage claimed 13.
Lacey Greenamyre had a huge day for Castleton, racking up seven points on three goals and four assists. She also had eight ground balls, eight caused turnovers and eight draw controls. Her assist and point totals both tie career-best game totals, while her eight caused turnovers are a new career-high.
Kimberly McCarthy racked up six goals of her own and added six ground balls as well, tying a career high for single-game goals and setting a new career-high in single-game ground balls.
Tien Connor and
Maddie Brasser each had two points in the game, with Connor scoring a goal with an assist, and Brasser assisting twice. Connor also collected a career-high seven ground balls.
Raven Payne made 12 saves between the pipes for Castleton and racked up an impressive 10 ground balls in the contest.
Grace Hines led Sage with five goals, followed by three goals each from Caroline Musinski and Alexandra Queeney. Queeney also had seven draw controls in the game. Laliah Espinal had 10 ground balls and Alexandra Lettre had eight. Madeline Butta made nine saves in the win in goal.
Castleton got on the board first, as McCarthy scored eight minutes into play to give Castleton a 1-0 lead. The Gators answered with three consecutive goals to end the first period, including a score with just four seconds left in the frame to take a 3-1 lead after 15 minutes.
Sage added to its lead early in the second quarter, but McCarthy rattled off back-to-back goals just 24 seconds apart to pull Castleton within one, 4-3. After Hines scored for Sage, Greenamyre netted her first of the game to make it 5-4. Sage answered quickly for a 5-3 lead, but Greenamyre found twine with 1:02 to play in the second to make it 5-4. Another late goal by Sage, this one with 22 seconds left in the quarter, made it a two-score game at halftime, 6-4.
Greenamyre completed the hat-trick just 17 seconds into the third quarter, making it 6-5 in favor of the Gators. Musinski pushed the gap back to two, but back-to-back goals by Connor and McCarthy for the Spartans leveled the score at 7-7 with 4:45 left in the third quarter. Queeney put Sage back on top 8-7, but McCarthy again found the back of the goal just 18 seconds after Queeney's score to knot the score at 8-8. A goal by Hines with 32 seconds left in the quarter sent the game to the final 15 minutes with Sage leading by one, 9-8.
McCarthy tied the game once more just under three minutes into the final quarter, making it 9-9. Less than 30 seconds later, Hines scored again for Sage to put the Gators ahead 10-9, but Greenamyre responded for Castleton with a tying goal with 10:41 to play, making it 10-10. Sage took an 11-10 lead with 7:04 to play, and tacked on a final goal with one second remaining to make it a 12-10 final.
Castleton returns to action Wednesday night at 6 p.m. when it travels to Smith College in Northampton, Mass.
