CASTLETON, Vt. - March 24, 2018 - The Colby-Sawyer women's lacrosse team dropped its North Atlantic Conference (NAC) opener at Castleton, 17-9, Saturday afternoon.

Castleton improves to 3-4 overall and 1-0 in the NAC. The Spartans travel to Keene State on Tuesday. The Chargers drop to 3-3 overall and 0-1 in conference play. Colby-Sawyer will play its home opener on Thursday against Nichols. 

Colby-Sawyer was led by freshman Sarah Morin with four goals and Nicole Lavigne with two goals and two assists. Lavigne also led the Chargers with five ground balls and eight draw controls. The four points moved Lavigne into sole possession of fourth place on the all-time points list with 215. Bailey Starr collected eight draw controls and four caused turnovers.

Emily Cross led the Spartans with 11 points on four goals and seven assists.  Hannah Braman added six goals and Erin Shuttle contributed five goals.

Castleton jumped on top just 2:40 into the contest when Cross set up Braman, and then Cross scored an unassisted goal just over five minutes into the game to give the Spartans a 2-0 lead. Nicole Lavigne set up Bailey Starr for the Chargers' first goal of the contest, but the Spartans responded, taking advantage of an extra-man opportunity as Shuttle scored her first goal of the game.

Just 41 seconds after Sarah Morin scored to bring Colby-Sawyer within one at 3-2, Braman scored the first of two straight goals. Lavigne scored twice late in the half to close the Charger deficit to two, but another Braman goal set up by Cross with two minutes remaining on the clock gave Castleton an 8-5 halftime lead.

The Spartans were able to pull away in the second half by outscoring Colby-Sawyer 9-4 for the 17-9 victory.

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