The Castleton Spartans have been on a tear, winning their last 5 games. Strong goalkeeping and quality offensive play led to 3 Spartan wins last week.
The week started off with a win against a strong Plymouth State team. The game was tied with just 3:47 remaining until an offensive explosion gave Castleton the win.
The go-ahead goal was scored by Mercedes Maltbie, making the score 2-1 in favor of the Spartans. Castleton added two more goals in the last two minutes to seal the win.
   Castleton struck first with 13 minutes elapsed in the first half with a goal by Blake Wardwell who capitalized on a one time rebound off the frame of the goal. Lauren Carroll scored for Plymouth State in heavy traffic to tie the game up.
The next for the Spartans was scored on a penalty corner. Rachel Preusser connected with Maltbie who ripped a shot into the back of the net. This shot fired up the Spartans offense that scored on a goal by Kristy Pinkham two minutes later.
Kealy Chipman, who scored with five seconds remaining in the game, netted the final score for the Spartans.
“This game showed what type of team we are. It was a tight game but in the end we exploded on offense and earned the win together,” said CSC coach Tammy Landon.
The Spartans next game was a close one against New England College. The game resulted in a 4-3 win for Castleton.
Rachel Preusser started the scoring 15 minutes into the game giving the Spartans a 1-0 lead. NEC responded with an offensive barrage, scoring two goals in 4 minutes with Katherine Rich and Rachel Caranoli getting on the score sheet.
Right before halftime Kealy Chipman scored a goal off a pass from Maria Stern to tie the game up at 2.
NEC came out strong in the second half scoring a goal off a rebound. Preusser answered quickly for Castleton scoring on a rebound of her own shot to return the score to a 3-3 tie.
A dramatic breakaway goal put Castleton up for good as a streaking Shawna Pinsonault scored on a beautiful pass from Preusser.
“I’m really proud of our girls for not giving up after we got down early” said Landon.
The most recent victim of Castleton’s hot streak was the Colby-Sawyer Chargers. Kealy Chipman had a fantastic game scoring two first half goals and assisting one more to lead the Spartans past the Chargers.
Preusser netted her eighth goal of the season in the eight minute to put Castleton up 1-0. Chipman added two goals in three minutes to put the Spartans ahead 3-0 going into halftime.
    Blake Wardwell continued the Spartan scoring and added a goal with 27 minutes remaining, but the Chargers did not give up and scored on a 62nd minute goal from Katharine Kessler, but that was too little too late as Castleton came out on top.
Chipman said after the game “we moved the ball very well and kept the pressure off of our goalie.”
The Spartans hope to continue their winning streak against Lasell on Sept. 29.