CASTLETON, Vt. – The Vermont State University Castleton women's lacrosse team dropped a non-conference tilt to Mount Saint Mary College on Monday night, falling 19-5 to the Knights at Dave Wolk Stadium.
 
The Spartans (1-8) hung tough on the stat sheet, clearing at a higher rate than MSMC (6-2) and winning 18-of-28 draw controls in the contest. Ground balls were close, favoring MSMC 23-19 and turnovers were nearly equal with the Spartans committing 19 to MSMC's 18.
 
Renny Cota and Gianna Geraci had a pair of goals each for the Spartans with Megan Ward adding a goal as well. Tien Connor assisted once. Kimberly McCarthy's seven ground balls were the most by any player in the contest and her two caused turnovers tied with Colleen Sheridan for the team lead. Geraci and McCarthy each collected five draw controls and Ward and Phoebe Loomis had four each. Liv Cormier stopped eight shots in goal for the Spartans.
 
The Knights were powered by eight goals and two assists from Victoria Ward. Karlie Ferrucci had six points on three goals and three helpers as did Shannon McGowan. Delisianna Naccarato added a hat-trick as well. Kate Crooker played strong defense with six ground balls and three caused turnovers while Peyton Curley made nine saves in goal.
 
MSMC got on the board less than two minutes in on a goal by Ferrucci, but Ward answered for the Spartans just a few minutes later on an assist from Connor to tie the score at 1-1. The tie was short-lived, with the Knights scoring four unanswered goals the rest of the frame to lead 5-1 after 15 minutes.
 
After the gap stretched to 6-1 early in the second, Geraci scored her first of the day to make it a 6-2 game. MSMC pushed it to 8-2 with a pair of goals before Geraci struck again to stop the bleeding. After two more MSMC scored made it 10-3, Cota potted her first of the day—scoring a player down to make it 10-4 going into halftime.
 
The third quarter belong to the Knights, with the visitors scoring five unanswered goals in the frame to lead 15-4 heading to the final quarter. After two goals pushed it to 17-4, Cota scored her second of the night for the Spartans' final goal of the contest.
 
VTSU Castleton hits the road on Saturday for a Little East tilt at UMass Dartmouth at noon.