DARTMOUTH, Mass. – The Castleton University women's lacrosse team dropped a heartbreaker in the final contest of the season on Saturday, falling to UMass Dartmouth 11-9 in a Little East Conference contest.
Castleton outshot UMassD 33-29, while turnovers were nearly even—Castleton committing 24 and UMassD 26. The Corsairs had a 19-14 edge in ground balls. The loss closes out Castleton's season at 2-13 and 1-6 in league play, while UMassD finishes the regular season 3-13 and 2-5 in league play and will be the No. 6 seed in the upcoming LEC Tournament.
Kimberly McCarthy and
Ryanne Mix had a hat-trick apiece for the Spartans in the contest, while
Deena Jacunski,
Tien Connor and
Madelyn Cote scored one time each. Mix grabbed a team-leading three ground balls and six draw controls, while McCarthy and Cote snagged two ground balls each.
Katie Opiela caused a pair of turnovers.
Raven Payne stopped 11 shots in the contest, giving her 405 career saves—third most in program history all-time. Her 177 saves this season were second most in a single season in program history, while her .462 save percentage is 10th best all-time in a single season for Castleton.
Melanny Sanchez Alvarez scored six times and had one assist for a seven-point game, while Widline Thomas and Erin Donovan had two goals apiece. Kara McLaughlin assisted on three goals. Alvarez also had seven ground balls and five draw controls. Payton Conceicao stopped 15 shots in the win in goal.
The first quarter was a back-and-forth affair, with neither team scoring until Connor broke into the goal column for the Spartans with a player-up advantage with less than six minutes to play. The Corsairs answered four minutes later when they scored on a free-position shot, leveling the score at 1-1 through 15 minutes of play.
The Corsairs picked up the offense in the second quarter, scoring just under five minutes into the frame to take a 2-1 lead with a free-position goal. The edge grew to 3-1 just 43 seconds later when they scored again on the free position. The fourth goal for the Corsairs came with 6:44 to play before halftime, again on the free position, making it 4-1 before a player-down goal by UMassD made it a 5-1 game. Mix responded for the Spartans with a player-up goal to make it 5-2 with 5:03 to go before the half. UMassD tacked on two more scores before the break, however, leading 7-2 at halftime.
The Spartans kicked it into high gear out of the halftime break, scoring the first five goals of the third quarter to roar back and tie the game at 7-7. McCarthy notched her first of the game just 61 seconds into the quarter before Mix notched her second player-advantage goal of the game. Jacunski, McCarthy and Cote followed with scores at even strength to knot the score at 7-7. The Corsairs added two more goals late in the quarter to lead 9-7 heading into the final 15 minutes of the regular season.
Mix completed the hat-trick 1:35 into the fourth quarter to make it 9-8, but consecutive goals by the Corsairs made it 11-8 with less than eight minutes to play. Neither side scored again until McCarthy netted her third goal of the contest with 1:58 to play. It proved to be the final goal of the contest, with the Spartans' valiant comeback attempt falling short.
