CASTLETON, Vt. – The Worcester State University field hockey team fell short in its comeback attempt on Saturday afternoon, as the Lancers fell to Castleton University 3-2 in Little East Conference action.
The Spartans improve to 9-0 in Little East Conference (LEC) play and 11-2 overall. They still lead Keene State (11-2, 8-1) by one game. Each team has three LEC games remaining, including a matchup scheduled for Oct. 27 at Keene State. The Lancers drop to 8-6 overall and 6-3 in the Little East.
Sarah Wells scored the first two goals of the contest, less than five minutes apart, before the quarter mark of the 70-minute contest. She put Castleton on the board at 11:41 on a penalty corner. After Allison Lowell's shot was saved, Gabriella Hunt chased down the rebound and fed Wells a crisp pass that was handled before scoring from inside two yards.
Then, after a long bouncing ball was mishandled in Lancer territory, Wells discovered an open look at the goal from 16 yards before sidestepping and converting the shot for her 15th goal of the year.
Cydney Jeffrey notched her sixth goal of the campaign at 23:01 when she connected on the run with a centering attempt by Lowell and lifted the ball over the sliding goalkeeper to extend the Spartan lead to three.
Worcester State launched their comeback attempt at 28:45 when Ann Maher (Mansfield, Mass.) was the beneficiary of a seeing-eye pass from Alexa Bobbin (Richmond, R.I.) following a Lancer corner to cut the deficit to two.
Worcester State pulled to within one at 50:43 when Sophia Monopoli (Worcester, Mass.) sent a pass to Olivia Antonelli (Westford, Mass.), who spun and struck a reverse stick shot past Tashia Pashby-Rockwood.
The Spartans surrendered just one shot on goal the rest of the way as they controlled a majority of play to wind down the clock while also remaining on the attack. Castleton won the shot battle, 17-7. The Spartans also had 12 corners compared to six for the Lancers.
Pashby-Rockwood made three saves to secure the win for the Spartans and match the team's record at 11-2. Jess Hopkins (Chelmsford, Mass.) made eight saves for the Lancers and dropped to 8-6.
Castleton will travel to Westfield State on Wednesday before it hosts Southern Maine for Senior Day on Saturday.
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Release courtesy of Castleton Sports Information.