KEENE, N.H. – The Castleton University women's lacrosse team came up short in a Little East Conference road contest on Tuesday night, falling to Keene State 19-8.
 
Phoebe Loomis and Megan Ward each netted hat-tricks in the contest, with Loomis racking up four total goals and Ward finishing with three. Tien Connor scored once and Lacey Greenamyre added an assist for the Spartans (3-10, 0-4 LEC). Greenamyre also racked up seven draw controls for Castleton, surpassing Megan Wood on the single-season draw control list for Castleton with 88 to this point of the year. Wood finished with 84 in 2019, good for third on the list before Greenamyre supplanted her in the No. 3 slot on Tuesday. Katie Opiela made eight saves in goal.
 
The Spartans were outshot 33-16 by the Owls (5-9, 2-2 LEC) 33-16 with a 27-14 edge in shots on goal favoring Keene. Turnovers were nearly equal, Castleton committing 16 to Keene's 13, and ground balls went Keene's way, 15-8. The Owls won 19-of-30 draw controls.
 
Haile Ratajack tied with Loomis for a game-high four goals for the Owls, though Hannah Dworkin had a game-high six points on three goals and three assists. Chase Gengras assisted four times with one goal for five total points and Jackie DeAngelis had a hat-trick with an assist as well. Mindy St. Marie had four caused turnovers and four ground balls while Tess Brown had six draw controls. Kara Moriarty and Sarah Howe each made three saves in goal in 30 minutes of action for Keene State.
 
The Owls jumped ahead 2-0 before Ward scored her first of the day to halve the deficit back to one goal. Five more goals by Keene put some distance between the two teams, but Loomis potted her first of the night to make it 6-2. Loomis struck against 70 seconds later for Castleton's third goal. All told, the two teams combined for seven goals in the final four-plus minutes of the opening quarter, with Keene leading 10-3 after on frame.
 
The Owls scored five unanswered goals in the second quarter before Castleton got the offense rolling in the third. Loomis completed her hat-trick with 6:13 to play in the frame before Ward netted her second of the day two minutes later. The Owls' early goal in the quarter was the only one of the frame for the hosts, as Castleton held Keene off the board for more than 20 consecutive minutes of action during a stretch in the second half.
 
Loomis then found the back of the goal for the fourth time to start the scoring in the fourth quarter, giving the Spartans a third consecutive goal. Keene then scored twice to break its drought, but Ward and Connor scored back-to-back goals for Castleton to answer back. The Owls tallied the last goal of the night to cap the scoring at 19-8. The final gap came entirely from the first half, with Castleton outscoring Keene 5-4 over in the second half.
 
Castleton is back in action Friday night on the road at Rhode Island College at 6 p.m. The game will be played at LaSalle Academy in Providence due to field construction at Rhode Island College's facility.