Spartans shut out in quarterfinal game
Castleton's Paul Phillips makes a play on the ball against a Thomas player during a North Atlantic Conceference quarterfinal game on Friday.
Thomas College Online Website
The Castleton men’s soccer season ended with a 0-3 loss to Thomas College in the NAC quarterfinals Saturday.
Fifth seeded Castleton and Head Coach John O’ Connor were devastated to see their season come to an end.
“The end of the game was very emotional, I saw a lot of emotion from guys I didn’t really expect it from,” O’Connor said.
Thomas started off the scoring in the 31st minute when Dakota Duplissie received a beautiful ball from William Nilson, and was able to beat Spartan keeper Amir Pasic.
Despite the goal, Castleton continued to battle back and earned many opportunities.
O’Connor said he was excited to see senior Alex Sedergren creating many of these opportunities. The Spartans, however, simply couldn’t convert those chances into goals.
Thomas did.
They capitalized on another chance in the 65th minute when Duplissie found his second goal of the game on a free kick from 30 yards out that he buried in the top right corner.
But, even with a score of 0-2, the Spartans held confidence.
“We were playing quite well, even at 0-2 I feel like we had them on their heels,” said O’Connor.
London Steede Jackson scored the final goal of the game for Thomas in the 89th minute, ultimately sealing the Spartans fate.
Despite the loss, a reflective sounding senior Spencer Dandurand voiced his love for Castleton soccer.
“It’s been an honor to play for this school, Coach O’Connor, and the great teammates I’ve had,” he said.
Captain, Bryce Kaler echoed Dandurand’s message as he put on the Spartan green and white for his last time.
“I’ve met some of my best friends playing for this team, and I wouldn’t trade it for the world,” he said.
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