GORHAM, Maine – The Vermont State University Castleton women's lacrosse team concluded the 2024 season on Saturday afternoon, falling 21-5 to the University of Southern Maine in Little East Conference action.
The Spartans finish the year 2-14 overall and 1-6 in league play to finish seventh in the league, one spot out of the LEC Tournament. USM finishes the regular season 7-7 overall and 3-4 in the LEC and advances to the league tournament on Tuesday. The Huskies outshot Castleton 27-9 on goal and won the ground ball battle 23-11. Draw controls favored the Huskies 18-9 and USM scored four times on free-position attempts the Spartans' one free-position goal.
Megan Ward scored twice in the contest, giving her 12 multi-goal games in 16 appearances this season. Ward led the team with 34 scores, setting a new career-high this season after dropping 30 goals as a rookie last season. She also had a team-leading five draw controls.
Gianna Geraci had a goal and an assist to put the bow on a strong first-year campaign, finishing with 25 goals and nine assists for 34 points.
Phoebe Loomis and
Kailyn August also scored in the contest while
Colleen Sheridan nabbed a team-high four ground balls.
Tien Connor made six saves between the pipes in her third outing in goal this season.
Rachel Shanks racked up seven goals for USM in addition to two assists for a nine-point day. Julia McKenna had five goals and a helper and three others scored twice. Kiaya Gatchell had six ground balls and four caused turnovers and McKenna led the Huskies with six draw controls. Cece Racine made four saves in goal for the win.
The Spartans struck first in the contest and held USM off the board for more than four minutes, but once the Huskies cracked the code the goals came rapidly. They scored five times in a six-minute span to pull ahead 5-1 after the first quarter was complete.
The Spartans again scored first in the second quarter, with Ward netting a goal only 18 seconds into the frame. USM responded in similar fashion, pouring in seven unanswered goals for a 12-2 lead. Loomis stopped the run but USM tacked on another to send the game to halftime with the hosts ahead 13-3.
For the third quarter in a row, Castleton opened the frame with a goal thanks to back-to-back scores by Ward and August less than a minute apart to cut it to 13-5. It was the last of the offense for the Spartans as USM scored the final eight goals of the contest to finish the afternoon.
