VDK, lax take down C-Sawyer
The women’s lacrosse team defeated Colby-Sawyer College 19-10 Thursday evening at Spartan Stadium with help from senior Marie Van Der Kar, who had a massive night for Castleton scoring seven goals, adding to her title as Castleton’s all-time leading scorer. Freshman Amanda Flodstrom was next in line in the scoring column for the Spartans with four goals while Angelica Mazzola chipped in three.
Liz Haggerty and Katelyn Nardini each had two goals apiece, and JenniLee Mark added one.
Van Der Kar now has 199 career goals and will shoot for the unprecedented and rarely accomplished 200th career goal. She is on pace to crack the top 20 all-time leading goal-scorers in Division III history.
The first half appeared to be in Colby-Sawyer’s favor.
They led 6-4 with just under 13 minutes remaining in the first half.
According to Van Der Kar, after some inspiring words from the coaches, the team quickly picked up their intensity.
“We started off a little weak. We weren’t really playing our game and we were letting Colby-Sawyer dictate the play,” Van Der Kar said.
Head coach Tammy Landon agrees with Van Der Kar and said when the team met at halftime she told her team that they weren’t playing to their fullest potential and they needed to make better decisions and play the way they are capable of.
“I told them this isn’t the Castleton lacrosse team. We can play a lot better. We were sloppy,” Landon said.
The Spartans did just that and went on a run scoring seven-straight goals to take control of the contest.
Mark scored and initiated the run while Mazzola added all three of her goals to capitalize on the surge.
“We put together a good explosion of goals,” Landon said. “I think the girls responded very well.”
Van Der Kar also added a game-high eight ground balls and six caused turnovers to key the Spartan transition game that finished 15-for-22 on clear attempts.
This was the first home game for the Spartans who have had more than one game postponed this season already due to the weather.
Van Der Kar said she and her team were very excited to finally get outside and to be able to play on the turf.
“It felt great to be playing out there with our fans supporting us. It feels like our season has finally really started,” she said.
With the win, the Spartans improve their record to 1-1, while Colby-Sawyer fell to 1-3. Castleton returns to action Saturday, March 26 at 1 p.m. where they will take on Elms College at Spartan Stadium.