CASTLETON, Vt. - May 7, 2016 - Colby-Sawyer College fell to top seed Castleton University, 17-7, in Saturday night's North Atlantic Conference (NAC) Women's Lacrosse Championship. 

Castleton improves to 12-5 after winning its fifth straight NAC crown and will represent the conference in next week's NCAA Tournament. The Chargers end the season at 12-7. Colby-Sawyer competed in its first NAC final and second conference championship game in program history. The Chargers played in the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) championship game in 2003. 

Nicole Lavigne, Caitlyn Whearty and Bailey Starr had two goals apiece, while Sara Berry added one goal. Lavigne finishes the season with 54 goals, which is the fifth most in a single season in program history. Whearty added five ground balls and three caused turnovers. Sara Berry, Bailey Starr and Nicole Lavigne were named to the All-Tournament Team. 

Brandi Whittemore and Brianna MacKay led the Spartans with six goals apiece. 

Castleton opened the scoring with two goals from Brianna MacKay in the first five minutes of action. Colby-Sawyer's Caitlyn Whearty knotted the game with two goals in two minutes to make it 2-2 with 18:10 to play in the first. 

The Spartans then scored four unanswered to take a 6-2 lead with less than 12 minutes to play. The teams traded the final four goals of the half with both of the Chargers' tallies coming from Bailey Starr. However, the top seed Spartans took an 8-4 lead at the break. 

Meghan Castellano made three saves in the first for Colby-Sawyer, while Meghan Els had nine stops for Castleton. 

First half shots were even at 15-15, but Colby-Sawyer received three yellow cards resulting in three Castleton goals. 

MacKay pushed the home team's lead to five 59 seconds into the second with her fourth tally of the contest. 

Sara Berry got a goal back for Colby-Sawyer less than three minutes later to pull within 9-5 with 26:10 to play. Nicole Lavigne added another Colby-Sawyer goal 11 seconds later to cut the deficit to three.  

After three first half goals, Castleton's Brandi Whittemore put the Spartans in front 10-6 with 23:36 left in the second. Less than a minute later, the Spartans benefited from their fourth man-up opportunity with a goal from Chantel Wilkin. Whittemore added the team's 12 tally of the contest nine seconds later. 

Nicole Lavigne scored her second of the game and 54th of the season at 21:53, but Castleton responded with a goal from Hannah Braman three minutes later to give the Spartans a 13-7 advantage. 

The Spartans rattled off four goals to build a comfortable 17-7 lead with 10 minutes to play and the score held up as the final. 

Els finished with 15 saves to earn her 12th win of the season. Castellano made four saves and allowed 13 goals in 43:35 for Colby-Sawyer. Jenna Donahue appeared in goal for the first time and played the final 16:25 and made one save.     .  

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