The Castleton men’s lacrosse team has been on a roll lately, taking five straight wins into last week’s pair of games. In the first of their double dose of games, the red-hot Spartans hosted Johnson State College. With over 200 fans in attendance, Castleton’s offense was impressive and dominated Johnson State through all four periods of play.

Behind freshman Matt Varney’s four-goal performance, the team came out victorious 13-4 and stayed unbeaten in conference play. Junior Matt VanDerKar had three goals and two assists, while goaltender Avram Feld made ten saves in the win.

In last year’s NAC Championship game, Mount Ida College denied the Spartans the conference title with an 11-6 defeat. Castleton has been waiting for a chance to avenge that loss, which they would get the opportunity to do in the second game of the week.

Castleton went on the road to face Mount Ida in a battle of the top teams in the North Atlantic Conference. The first period ended with both teams knotted up at one goal each, but Castleton had the edge in shots on goal.

Mount Ida came out strong in the second, scoring five goals and keeping the Spartans at bay. The second half of the game stayed the course and Castleton suffered a 10-5 loss, ending their six-game winning streak.

The men’s team is now 8-4 with a 5-1 record in conference play having beaten both Daniel Webster College and Green Mountain College earlier this week by the scores 17-5 and 22-1 respectively.

The women

The women’s lacrosse team also had two games last week, hoping to keep up their winning ways and stay over .500.

The Lady Spartans hosted a strong Colby Sawyer squad on a chilly Thursday afternoon. Castleton’s performance reflected the weather with players having a tough time getting a nice run together. Colby Sawyer jumped out to a 6-2 lead at the half and controlled the pace of the game.

Castleton scored twice in the second half, but was outplayed by the opposition and lost 11-4. Nicole Bouchard led the Spartans with three goals and an assist in a losing effort.

The women’s team then went on the road to face winless Thomas College. Unlike the first game of the week, Castleton was dominant and scored a whopping 12 goals in the first half.

The Lady Spartans cruised to a 16-6 win over Thomas, improving their record to 4-4. Nicole Bouchard once again led the charge with four goals and Erin Barry chipped in with three goals and an assist. Goalie Meredith Pope stopped three shots in Castleton’s impressive victory.

On Wednesday, the team improved their record to 5-4 by beating St Joseph’s College of Connecticut by a score of 18-7.