Western Connecticut State University

DANBURY, Conn. - Sophomore Ellenoire Schoen (Newtown, Conn.) scored WestConn's lone goal of the match, but Vermont State Castleton answered twice in the second half to edge the Wolves, 2-1, in field hockey action on Saturday morning at the Westside Athletic Complex.

WestConn struck first when Jaden Kilmer turned away an early Peyton Richardson bid at 7:55, and less than 30 seconds later Schoen turned and blasted her first goal of the day — and second of the season — to give the hosts a 1-0 lead just 8:23 into the match. It held up through a frantic finish to the first quarter, as Castleton peppered the Wolves with four penalty corners in the final five minutes alone without converting.

Castleton began to turn the tide in the second quarter behind a relentless stream of penalty corners — the Spartans drew five in the period — and finally broke through when Gwyn Vincent knotted the score at 23:49 off a feed from Allison Friel. The visitors kept pressing in the third quarter, piling up penalty corner after penalty corner before Peyton Richardson put Castleton ahead for good at 41:54, assisted by Brooke Noble, who herself set up a staggering 13 penalty corners over the course of the match. 

WestConn pushed for an equalizer in the fourth quarter, drawing two of its own penalty corners through junior Cassidy Nordmann (Bethel, Conn.), but senior Alyssa Montalvo (Holbrook, N.Y.) fired wide on one chance and Nordmann's own corner try sailed high on the other. Freshman goalkeeper Jaden Kilmer (East Islip, N.Y.) was stellar in net, finishing with 10 saves on 15 shots on goal as Castleton outshot the Wolves 24-3 overall. WestConn junior Catlin Dillinger (Pine Plains, N.Y.) and senior Kaitlyn Biase (Nesconset, N.Y.) each came up with a pair of defensive saves to help weather the onslaught. 

With the loss, WestConn sank to 5-7 overall and 0-2 in Little East Conference play, while Castleton improved to 4-6 and 1-0 in conference. The Spartans have now won seven straight contests at The WAC. The Wolves will look to rebound when they travel to the University of Hartford in a non-league matchup on Wednesday evening.