Fall sports wrapping up
The Castleton State College field hockey season came to an end with a 6-11 record after a 2-1 loss to Lasell in the North Atlantic Conference quarterfinal. Three sophomores from the team, Carolyn Griggs, Tricia Watson and Brooke Towslee, made NAC field hockey All-Conference second team.
The team says good-bye to senior Amy Taylor, who played for four seasons and represented the team as captain this season.
“I am really looking forward to next season with many players returning and more new prospects considering Castleton,” said head coach Tammy Landon. “Our returning players are going to work hard at improving their individual skills in the off-season and will come in next year with more confidence as second- and third-year players rather than first- and second-year players.”
Castleton men’s soccer also came to a close in the NAC tournament. After earning a fourth seed for the tournament the team was unable to triumph over Lasell in the semifinals with a 3-1 loss, finishing out the season with an 8-11-2 record.
For the second consecutive season, Castleton men’s soccer received the Team Sportsmanship award, chosen by votes from the conference coaches. Sophomore Ryan Hahn made the NAC All-Conference team, senior Jesse Brown made NAC All-Conference second team, and sophomore Cass Lyons made Honorable Mention.
“Trouble finishing off our chances caused us to lose a bunch of close games,” men’s soccer coach John Werner said. “Overall the season was successful considering the youth of the team, and the prospects for 2007 look real good,” he said explaining how the team competed hard with such a young team and a tough schedule.
“We wish the best to our departing senior captains Jesse Brown and Kurt Hunt,” Werner
said.
Although the men’s soccer and the field hockey seasons were cut short in the NAC
tournaments, Castleton cross country team is still in the running. After sweeping the NACs, the team competed in the Eastern College Athletic Conference hosted by Williams College in Massachusetts.
The men finished 19th out of 40 teams with junior Chris Gatchell being CSC’s lead runner for the 8km with freshman Nick Grasso only five seconds behind.
The women finished 20th out of 35 teams with junior Justine Campbell as Castleton’s lead runner in the 6k and freshman Elizabeth
Halnon finishing shortly behind her.
But the race was costly for one of the women.
“I have never not finished a race,” said one of CSC’s top cross country runners Katie Sprowl, who has been running since seventh grade.
And she even finished the 6 km race at ECAC after spraining her ankle in the first quarter mile.
“One split second can change absolutely everything,” she said, “one weird step and it’s all over,” Sprowl said explaining how she had to get up and start running 200 meters behind the last runner after starting out in the leading pack.
“I wouldn’t have finished if I didn’t care about my team,” she said, adding that support from her team kept her going.
This Saturday, Nov. 11, the cross-country teams head to their last race of the season, the NCAA regional in Springfield, Mass.