The Castleton State College women’s soccer team is half-way done with their season with an overall record of 5-3-1 and 4-1 in NAC league. The women’s team is performing better than ever and continues to improve as the season goes on.The Spartans suffered a tough 1-0 loss against Green Mountain College on Sept.12, but that didn’t derail them. They went on to win three straight games against Bay Path, Wheelock, and Mass.-Liberal Arts. During homecoming/parents weekend, the Spartans lost to U. Maine- Farmington in overtime and won against Thomas College.

The Castleton women surprised the home crowd with a huge improvement in the second home game against Mass.-Liberal Arts on Sept. 20. The Spartans scored four goals and only two shots got by Castleton goalkeeper Kim Allen. The team kept up the intensity on both the offensive and defensive sides of the ball throughout the game.

The Spartans went into the weekend double-header against U. Maine- Farmington and Thomas College with an undefeated record in the NAC. The game against U. Maine was a re-match of the conference championship last year. The game was played on a wet and slippery field, which changed the tempo of play. Each team had an equal number of chances to score a goal, but both defenses blocked all the attacks.

Katie Hoxsie, a freshman defender, was all over the opponent’s offense and stole the ball from them repeatedly.

The pace of the game seemed to accelerate in the second half. The Spartans’ Tracy Stala scored a goal off Brean Farquharson’s assist to put her team on the board 1-0. Just two minutes after the Spartan goal, U. Maine scored off a shot that was mishandled by Allen.

The game went into sudden death overtime. Less then 20 seconds left in the first half of overtime, U. Maine’s Melisa St. Amand scored the game-winning goal.

The Spartans played against Thomas College the very next day. This time, the weather was nice and the sky was clear. The Spartans showed no disappointment or fatigue on their faces after a tough loss the day before.

Castleton controlled the game from the first whistle to the very last whistle. After 19 minutes had passed in the first half, Tracy Stala took a powerful shot just outside of the box, and the ball sailed over the goalkeeper’s head and into the net.

The Spartans continued to dominate in the second half. Casey Fitzgerald scored her first goal of the season at the 37-minute mark to give Castleton a 2-0 lead.

“We are slowly coming together as a team. We have many young players and we even have five starters who are freshman, but for sure, we are still improving,” assistant coach Phil Pittelli said after the loss against U. Maine.

“We worked on a lot of first touch on the ball during practice and I think that helped us with the possession of the ball during the game,” said Tracy Stala; who contributed the win with 2 goals and 2 assists against Mass. Liberal Arts. “We have three great coaches who put together the team. They will make our team strong as a season goes by.