CASTLETON, Vt. – A valiant comeback attempt fell short for the Vermont State University Castleton women's lacrosse team on Tuesday night as the Spartans dropped a non-conference battle to Curry College at Dave Wolk Stadium, 13-12.
 
The game featured four ties and three lead changes as the Spartans (0-3) worked to overtake Curry (3-2) late in the contest. The Spartans scored nine second-half goals in the contest, fueled largely by four goals from Kimberly McCarthy and three from Megan Ward in the final 30 minutes. VTSU Castleton held a 35-31 edge in total shots and 24-19 edge in shots on goal in the contest. Ground balls favored the Spartans 24-20 and the Spartans committed less turnovers in the contest, but a litany of cards slowed the Spartans on the night leading to four woman-up goals for the Colonels.
 
Four different players had four-point nights for the Spartans, led by four goals from McCarthy. Ward and Phoebe Loomis each had three goals and an assist while Tien Connor dished out four helpers on the night. Gianna Geraci added a pair of goals. Ward led the team with seven ground balls, six draw controls and five caused turnovers. Liv Cormier made six saves in the contest in goal.
 
Curry's Grayson Goolgasian had a monster game, racking up four goals and four assists for eight points. Natalie Keenan also had four goals and Ellie Hardman had three. Keenan and Nicole Michael had seven draw controls each and Zoe Ratcliffe made 12 stops between the pipes.
 
The Spartans scored first in the contest, with Loomis getting on the board just 15 seconds into the contest after winning the opening draw and weaving through defenders. Curry answered less than a minute later to kick off a string of four unanswered goals. Geraci stopped the run with a goal late in the first period to make it 4-2 after 15 minutes.
 
Curry jumped ahead 5-2 early in the second, but the Spartans buckled down and held the Colonels off the board the rest of the half. Geraci's second goal of the game made it a 5-3 game going into halftime.
 
Coming out of the break, Ward and Loomis scored back-to-back goals to level the game at 5-5 less than five minutes into the third quarter. Curry scored the next two goals to move ahead 7-5, but a trio of Spartan goals in a four-minute stretch gave VTSU Castleton the lead once more. McCarthy scored twice in 90 seconds and Ward added a goal a three minutes later to put the Spartans ahead 8-7. Curry pushed back with two goals to end the third leading 9-8.
 
The lead grew to 11-8 less than a minute into the fourth after two quick Curry scores, but the Spartans continued to grind back. Loomis scored again to make it 11-9 before Curry tacked on an insurance goal for a 12-9 lead. McCarthy found the back of the net two more times in succession, scoring twice just 19 seconds apart to make it 12-11 with seven minutes to play. Curry found the back of the net once more with 2:15 to play for a 13-11 edge, but Ward responded only 30 seconds later to pull the Spartans within one. Curry was able to sustain the damage, successfully running out the clock while holding the Spartans off.
 
VTSU Castleton is back in action on Thursday at Nichols at 5 p.m.