Vecchiarelli Tallies Four Goals in Lancers’ 17-7 Loss to Castleton

CASTLETON, Vt. – The Castleton University Spartans downed the Worcester State University Lancers by a score of 17-7 in a Thursday night non-conference matchup at Spartan Stadium.

The Spartans were led by Tiffany Danyow (Middlebury, Vt.) and Grace Johnson (So. Burlington, Vt.) who tallied five and four goals with two and one assists, respectively. Ashley Pelkey (Barre, Vt.) netted three goals and an assist, while Erin Shuttle (Georgia, Vt.) chipped in two tallies. Nadine Downing (Cortland, N.Y.) picked up a game-high six draw controls and four caused turnovers.

Worcester State's offense was driven by Alexis Vecchiarelli (Agawam, Mass.) who netted four goals on the occasion. Erin Haltam (Medina, Ohio) picked up a game-high five ground balls.

Vecchiarelli tallied the first goal of the night on a free position shot three minutes into the game. Castleton responded with three back-to-back goals within the next four minutes of play to put the score at 3-1. Vecchiarelli tallied another with 19:35 remaining in the first stanza, before the Spartans added three additional consecutive goals, putting the hosts up by four. Each team tallied a goal in the remaining 15 minutes of play, to move the score to 7-3 going into the second half.

Castleton kept upping their lead in the second half, as they would score two goals to one Worcester goal in the first 16 minutes of the half. With the score at 13-6, Castleton would end the game with a 4-1 run to conclude with the 17-7 final score.

The hosts outshot the Lancers by a 29-20 margin and held the advantage in draw controls (15-10) and ground balls (20-16).

Castleton's Samantha Hebb (Ashland, Mass.) earned the win in net, as she stopped 7-of-14 shots on net. Worcester State's Krissy Pessa (Walpole, Mass.) suffered the loss in a 5-save performance.

Next up, the Lancers (5-11) conclude their regular season on Saturday at home with a Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) matchup against Salem State.