The Spartans were being matched on the field, and Husson scored two unanswered goals to jump ahead 4-3. The Spartans, though, made a surge as four different scorers started a seven-goal run for Castleton, which was capped off by a goal coming from sophomore attack Elizabeth Haggerty with two seconds left in the first half of the North Atlantic Conference championship game.Husson struck back at the start of the second half, bringing the lead back to five goals. After the goal, sophomore midfielder Marie VanDerKar scored, beginning an eight-goal run for the Spartans. During the run, VanDerKar completed her hat trick, and Haggerty tallied her fifth goal of the game. The Spartans let two more goals in, but the 19-7 lead held and solidified Castleton as North Atlantic Conference champions.

“It’s just awesome already winning a conference championship. I think we have some momentum going now,” VanDerKar said.

Haggerty led all scorers with five goals while VanDerKar and junior attack Stephanie Pearce both scored hat tricks. Freshman defenseman Angelica Mazzola also scored a hat trick for the Spartans. DeeDee Schroeder, a senior defender, and junior attack Jennifer Macari both added two goals to the scoring.

“It’s stressful playing goalie. I’d say 75 percent is mental and the other 25 percent is skill. You constantly need to keep your head in the game and control your emotion and not let it get the better of you,” said senior goaltender Francesca Mazzola. “In a back and forth game it’s really stressful. You just have to recoup and reset and not let that one goal get you down. You have to be prepared for the next shot that comes.”

Castleton went undefeated in NAC play this season, and went 6-1 in the New England Women’s Lacrosse Alliance. The Spartans match up for the NEWLA on Wednesday, April 29 against Westfield State. In the previous match up, Castleton won 11-9 against Westfield.

“They [Westfield] are going to be looking for revenge. We just need to get our game going and play Castleton lacrosse,” Haggerty said, adding where the current focus of the team has shifted to. “The NEWLA is where we really want to win.