With the game clock showing just 12 minutes of play left in regulation, and the game tied at 2-2, the Clarkson Knights were within reach of taking the lead for the first time of the day. Sophomore Alyssa Dausman set the ball up near the corner to take a direct kick. Dausman sent the ball into the box on the far side, where Andrea Walsh waited eagerly.

Walsh’s header snuck into the net, and the lady Spartans’ collapse was completed as they lost the nonconference game 3-2 on Sept. 5.

“We lost everything we did well in the first 65 minutes of the game,” said coach Chris Chapdelaine. “We really lost our composure there at the end.”

The lady Spartans had been totally in control of the game during the first 65 minutes as they were able to capitalize on two marches down the field. The first goal came just 20 minutes into the game as Courtney Chadburn, last year’s leading scorer for the lady Spartans, netted her first goal of the season when Clarkson’s goalie, Alex Sullivan, misread the play and came out of the net trying to squash Castleton’s opportunity.

The Spartans didn’t score again until the 53 minute mark, when Kelly Gerkin rifled a 15-yard shot past Sullivan.

Clarkson, though, surged back at Castleton with its own scoring drive as Walsh squeezed her first goal of the day past the dive of Spartan goalie Erika Davis. Davis left the game soon after with an injury, and Cady Kerin replaced her. Kerin unfortunately felt the rest of the wrath of the Knights’ offensive hunger for a comeback.

Despite its being a tough loss to swallow for the Spartans, coach Chapdelaine said he was impressed by the way his girls played.

“I thought [the team] played 10 times better than they did against RPI,” Chapdelaine said. “That was the best 65 minutes of soccer I have seen this team play in three years.”

The 0-2 Spartans will play again on Sept. 12, when they travel to Plattsburgh State for another nonconference game.