FITCHBURG, Mass. – The Castleton University women's lacrosse team hit the road Tuesday night for its final non-conference tune-up before the league calendar opens on Saturday, falling to Fitchburg State 13-7.
The Spartans (1-5) led after the first quarter and were within just one goal early in the fourth, but the Falcons (5-4) pulled away late in the contest. Fitchburg had a 38-29 edge in total shots and a 27-23 edge in shots on goal, as well as a 41-31 advantage in ground balls on the day. Castleton won the draw control battle 11-10, and both teams fared well on the clear: Castleton going 18-for-22 and Fitchburg going 22-of-24.
Kimberly McCarthy had another impressive game, potting four goals with four draw controls, two caused turnovers and two ground balls.
Lacey Greenamyre added two scores with five draw controls, four ground balls and three caused turnovers.
Deena Jacunski scored for the third game in a row, while
Maddie Brasser tallied two assists and
Madelyn Cote added one helper. Cote also had four ground balls. Spartan goalie
Raven Payne racked up 14 saves and had six ground balls as well.
Eva Kozikowski and Brooke Johnson had identical lines of four goals and one assist each, while Cali Laakso added three goals and a helper in the game. Julia Miele had three assists for the Falcons to go along with a team-high six ground balls. Laakso and Delaney Ponder had five ground balls each and Alexis Raymond caused four turnovers. Francesca Reyes earned the win in goal, playing the opening half and making nine saves.
Fitchburg scored first in the contest, but the Spartans rattled off three goals in a three-minute stretch to take a 3-1 lead in the opening quarter. McCarthy started the scoring off a feed from Cote, before Greenamyre notched her first on a pass from Brasser. McCarthy got in on the action again, burying a goal in traffic for a two-goal Spartan lead after one quarter.
The Falcons controlled the second quarter, outscoring Castleton 3-0 in the frame to take a 4-3 lead into halftime. Fitchburg scored the first three goals of the second half as well, taking a 7-3 lead midway through the third quarter. Jacunski broke the drought for Castleton with a goal of her own, going coast-to-coast on a full sprint and scoring to make it 7-4. The lead went right back to four goals for Fitchburg, but Greenamyre answered to cut it back to three at the end of the third—8-5.
McCarthy then rattled off back-to-back goals to open the fourth for Castleton, bringing the deficit to just one goal: 8-7. Fitchburg took over the game once more, however, never relinquishing control as it scored five unanswered goals to close the game 13-7.
Castleton is back in action Saturday at Southern Maine at noon.
