Falcons Edged By Spartans, 2-1 (OT)
Castleton, Vt. – The Fitchburg State University field hockey team suffered a tough 2-1 setback in overtime to the Spartans of Castleton University in Little East Conference (LEC) action this evening at Dave Watt Stadium.
Craig registers sixth goal on the season in LEC setback
Castleton, Vt. – The Fitchburg State University field hockey team suffered a tough 2-1 setback in overtime to the Spartans of Castleton University in Little East Conference (LEC) action this evening at Dave Watt Stadium.
The Basics
Score: Fitchburg State 1, Castleton 2
Records: Fitchburg State (7-5, 4-3 LEC) I Castleton (10-2, 8-0 LEC)
How It Happened
Fitchburg State's nearly opened the scoring at the 3:51 mark of the first half as senior Molly Richard (Leominster, Mass./St Bernard's) fired a shot on frame, but Spartans keeper Tashia Pashby-Rockwood (Williston, Vt./Champlain Valley) turned the shot aside.
Castleton's best scoring opportunity of the first half occurred in the ninth minute of action when sophomore Loretta Blakeney (Barnard, Vt./Woodstock) took a shot that was cleared off the goal line by Falcon junior Aislinn DeHorsey (Leominster, Mass./Leominster) for the defensive to preserve the 0-0 stalemate going into the break.
Following the intermission, the Falcons grabbed a 1-0 advantage at the 49:08 mark as freshman Sarah Craig (Ashburnham, Mass./Oakmont Regional) collected a feed from DeHorsey following a scrum in front of the cage and tucked the ball inside the far post for her sixth tally on the season.
The Spartans knotted the score (1-1) with just under five minutes remaining in regulation when Blakeney received a pass from sophomore Gabriella Hunt (Granville, N.Y./Granville) and found the back of the cage for her team-leading ninth goal of the year to force overtime.
In the overtime period, Hunt connected on her sixth score of the 2018 season 3:50 into the frame after blasting a shot into the upper left corner of the cage to give Castleton University the 2-1 victory.
Inside the Numbers
This evening's contest will mark just the third meeting between the two teams in the sport of field hockey with the Falcons currently 1-2-0 all-time when taking on the Spartans.
Fitchburg State and Castleton have split the first two meetings with the Spartans collecting a 6-2 victory last season at Spartan Stadium.
In the cage, freshman Abby Bryant (Ware, Mass./Quabbin Regional) stopped 12 shots for the Falcons in the setback, while Pashby-Rockwood made one save for the Spartans in the victory.
DeHorsey collected a pair of defensive saves for Fitchburg State, while Richard added one defensive stop for the Green and Gold as well.
Castleton held a 26-6 margin in shots, while also finishing with a 20-1 advantage in penalty corners.
Up Next
Falcons will travel to Anna Maria College on Thursday to take on the AMCATS for a non-conference tilt at 7:00 PM. Spartans will host the Lancers of Worcester State University on Saturday for an LEC matchup, starting at 4:00 PM.
