Eloise Donner lunges at a Colby-Sawyer defender in a game on Sept. 23. Photo by Robby Pereau

On Saturday, Sept. 23,  three goals in the second half by Emily Lowell, Mariah Linnett and Casey Traill spurred the Castleton Spartans to victory over the Colby-Sawyer Chargers, 3-1, in their North Atlantic Conference home opener at Spartan Stadium.

To open the game, Colby-Sawyer came out fast and furious, attacking the Spartans defense. Castleton could not convert on two fast break opportunities heading into the half. With an early goal from the Chargers, Castleton went into the first half down 1-0.

The Spartans didn’t let the heat get the best of them though, coming out firing on all cylinders to start the second half.

Lowell scored her team-leading sixth goal of the season on a penalty shot that resulted from a scrum in front of the goal. She sent it past the Chargers keeper high and to the left to get the scoring started for the green and white.

Spartan head coach Jessica Kischko stated after the game that “the heat leveled the playing field,” and allowed her girls to take advantage of shot opportunities in the second half.

  One day after the big win against Colby-Sawyer, Castleton returned home to face Becker in a non-conference matchup beating them easily, 10-0.

The Spartans wasted no time jumping out to a 7-0 first-half lead, including two goals a piece from Cydney Jeffrey and Allison Lowell. The second half was much of the same as Castleton continued to dominate Becker on both sides of the ball.

Traill notched another goal in the second half. She ended the game with two goals as well, as the Spartans finished with 10 total goals, the most scored by the team in over a year.

Both teams took multiple water breaks to try and combat the late September heat, which reached upwards of 90 degrees at Spartan stadium. Leah Holland and Mikayla Hull split time in the cage, making one save combined in 70 minutes of playing time. Kischko talked with her team before the game about coming out strong early and that is exactly what the Spartans did.

“When multiple of our girls score, it makes us more of an overall threat,” said Kischko.” It was a huge week for us, to roll over after RPI and play like we did. We deserved it and we showed great hustle.”

Field hockey returns to action for an important conference matchup travelling to the University of Maine at Farmington at 11 a.m. on Saturday Sept. 30.