The women’s soccer team improved their season record to 7-3 recently with a whopping 3-0 record in the Northern Atlantic Conference. After having five games within the last two weeks, losing only one, coach Chris Chapdelaine said he’s happy with the team.

“We’re progressing,” says Chapdelaine. “We’re really focusing on and talking about the NAC games. They’re the games that really matter to us.”

Three of the last five games the Spartans have played have been NAC games against Lyndon State, Green Mountain College and New England College. The Spartans have also played against non-conference opponents Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts and Keene State College, who defeated the Spartans by a close score of only 1-0.

Helping lead the Spartans to their victory against MCLA was Castleton junior Kelsey Garceau, giving the Spartans a pair of goals, her first two of the season. The Spartans took the 2-0 lead in just the 28th minute of play. In the second half Castleton’s Kayla Rogers scored off of a cross from junior Lucia Sforza, making the game 3-1.

In the nail-biter overtime game against Lyndon, senior Brynn Campbell scored her first goal of the season, scoring with only 26 seconds left in double-overtime. This gave the Spartans their first win against a conference team.

“We’re really capitalizing on opportunities,” says Chapdelaine. “We’re starting to put it all together.”

However, the Spartans were soon after defeated in a close game against Keene State. Having played very strong defensively, the Spartans were outshot by the Owls 23-5. Freshman goalkeeper Katja Langmaid made her second career start for the Spartans and made 16 saves overall.

Just two days later, the Spartans defeated Green Mountain by a high-score of 5-0. This game put the Spartans to 2-0 in the NAC. Getting on the board this game were juniors Kelsey Garceau and Sarah Ethier, along with Courtney Chadburn, Kelsey Lenney, and Maria Arnot.

“Our offense is dangerous,” says Chapdelaine. “When it all comes together, we go right through our competition.”

Having only seen one shot the entire game, goalkeeper Katja Langmaid stopped her only shot, helping the Spartans clinch the shutout.

More recently for the Spartans was another shutout against conference foe New England College. The Spartans stunned NEC by defeating them 5-0. By scoring in the first 15 minutes of play, the Spartans certainly got off to the right start. The Spartans outshot their opponents 28-4, which helped them gain their third shutout in only four games.  Helping clinch the win, which gave the Spartans their 3-0-conference record and 7-3 overall, were Hillary Cooke scoring two goals, Garceau, Arnot, and Chadburn each adding one.

    Not having lost a conference game since 2008, the Spartans are currently outscoring their opponents 79-1. However, the Spartans still have a little less than half of their regular season games to go, with six being NAC games.

    The Spartans are very capable of winning their conference, according to Chapdelaine, and they are looking to get that home field advantage when it comes to playoff time.

“We are going to continue to move forward,” said Chapdelaine.

The Spartans have two upcoming non-conference games, at Elmira College on October 1st, and host SUNY Cobleskill on the fifth at 7 p.m.