Castleton came out after the half ready and focused as they outscored Thomas College 12-4 in the second half to secure their second North Atlantic Conference Women’s Lacrosse championship in a row as they won 21-12 last Sunday at Spartan Stadium.

With the win the Spartans also clinched a spot in the NCAA tournament for the second year in a row.

We are really excited about winning,” Head coach Mary Kate Scardillo said. “Every year is a new year and we worked hard this year and to win again feels good.”

Amanda Flodstrom had a tremendous game garnering career high 11 points on five goals and six assists. Sarah Clark scored four goals, Mariah Lesure scored two goals and had five caused turnovers and NAC tournament MVP Brandi Whittemore scored two goals in the winning effort.

In the first half it was a back and forth contest as each team had an answer for the other. Clark put the first points on the board just a minute and 45 seconds into the contest. Thomas responded with a goal at the 25:13 minute mark to tie the game up at one.

Flodstrom gave Castleton the lead again four minutes later, and a minute later Jessica Taplin scored to put Castleton up 3-1.

The Terriers scored two goals in the next two minutes to tie the game at three. Flodstrom answered with a quick goal only eight seconds later to retake the lead for Castleton. Thomas wouldn’t go away though and they scored three goals in 34 seconds to take the 6-4 lead. Castleton responded with three goals this time to lead with seven. Castleton and Thomas each scored two more goals each to close out the half with the score 9-8 in favor of the Spartans.

In the second half Castleton came out with a desire to win and it showed as they started it on an 11-0 run. Eight different Castleton players scored during the stretch of goals including Flodstrom who had three goals and Clark with two.

“We talked at half about things we felt we were doing good at and things we were not doing good at,” Scardillo said. “We started fresh as if it were the beginning of a game and we focused on things like winning the draw often which contributed to a few goals.”

The Terriers were able to score four straight goals in the last nine minutes of play before Blake Wardwell answered with only 1:23 left in the game to end the scoring and the game at 21-12 in favor of the Spartans.

The Spartans ended the game with an 18-8 advantage in caused turnovers. They also had twice as many draw controls with 24 as opposed to the Terriers 12. Castleton also took 44 shots while Thomas only took 20.

Brittany Premo played well for the Terriers recording four goals, seven ground balls and six draw controls. Ceara Didiase and Jennifer Day both had three goals for the Terriers.

Thomas ended its season with an 11-5 record the best in the programs history.

On Thursday, May 2, Castleton hosted Norwich for the senior game and won in dominating fashion 18-3. Castleton will lose six players to graduation including Lily Derbyshire, Jessica Taplin, Charlotte Farrell, Cori Healy, Samantha Bonasera and Julia Lesure.

“This senior class is first that I have coached all four years at Castleton,” Scardillo said. “I watched them grow for four years and this year they really took on the leadership role, they were proud to lead the team.”

However, their season is not quite over yet as they advance in the NCAA tournament. Their opponent and game date has not yet been announced.