Castleton, VT—The Lasell College field hockey team was unable to upset North Atlantic Conference preseason favorite Castleton State on Saturday night, falling to the Spartans, 4-1, at Spartan Stadium.
Castleton evens their conference record out at 2-2, while improving to 8-4 overall, while Lasell drops to 0-5 in league competition and 4-9 on the season.
The Spartans possessed control of the game posting 39 shots and 17 penalty corners, while the Lasers produced just five shots and two corner chances. Laser goaltender Christine Thornton (Canton, MA) recorded a new Lasell single-game record in saves during the contest, stopping 23 shot attempts by the Spartans. The previous single-game record was set at 17 saves, and was held in conjunction by both Thornton and Amanda Miller (Lasell '09, Fall River, MA).
The hosts got on the board in the 12th minute when Rachel Preusser (Craryville, NY) picked up a rebound amongst a flurry of contenders in front of the Lasers' net. Courtney Nolan (Spring Lake Heights, NJ) registered the deciding goal just three minutes later. Nolan began the play by taking a penalty corner which she dished off to Sarah Flore (Springfield, VT) before cutting into free space near the left corner for the 2-0 lead.
Lasell's Hannah Cebry (Burlington, CT) cut the score in half at 18:54 depositing a feed from Marisa Lewon (Norwich, CT) behind the back of Castleton goalie Bridget Dusha (Greenwich, NY).
Before the half, Kealy Chipman (Bellows Falls, VT) increased the Spartans' advantage to 3-1 connecting on a pass from Nolan.
Brynn Cayia (Berlin, VT) finished off the scoring in the game, notching her first collegiate goal, at 43:56, after working the ball into the striking circle.
Lasell will host Eastern Connecticut on Tuesday, October 12th at 3:30 p.m. on Grellier Field.