Box Score CASTLETON, VT- Thomas almost pulled off an upset against top ranked Castleton leading 3-1 after one half, but the Spartans scored two late goals in the second to clinch a dramatic 4-3 win in a North Atlantic Conference (NAC) field hockey contest Sunday afternoon.
With the win the Spartans improve to 12-2 overall and 7-0 in the NAC. Thomas, meanwhile, falls to 5-9 on the season and 3-4 in the NAC.
Thomas came out aggressive and scored just 2:43 into the contest when Brittany Premo (Concord, N.H.) put home a rebound right in front of the net.
Premo made it 2-0 in favor of the Terriers just three minutes later. She took a pass from Michelle Greene (Winslow, Maine) on the far side of the net and put it home before Jessica Galatioto (Queensbury, N.Y.) could react.
Rachel Preusser (Craryville, N.Y.) cut the lead in half in the eighth minute. Kristy Pinkham (Brandon, Vt.) fired a ball from just inside the shooting circle and it went off a stick into the air toward the goal. Preusser was planted on the near side of the net and batted the ball out of the air and into the cage.
Miranda Tinsman (Belgrade, Maine) pushed the Thomas lead to 3-1 in the 17th minute, scoring off a rebound right in front of the net.
In the second half, the Terriers made a concerted effort to stall the Castleton attack, regularly putting nine and ten players inside the shooting circle.
Despite the Thomas efforts, Blake Wardwell (Bridgewater, Vt.) closed the gap to 3-2 in the 42nd minute,scoring off a rebound right in front.
Senior Kealy Chipman (Bellows Falls, Vt.) then tied it the 56th minute, firing a shot from just inside the shooting circle.
The score remained tied until the 69th minute. Stern collected the ball outside the far side of the shooting circle, dribbled in a little ways and then ripped a shot through the defense and goalie Jasmine Bishop (Waterville, Maine) to give Castleton a 4-3 lead with 1:07 left.
The Terriers match one last-ditch effort and collected a penalty corner in the final second; however, they were unable to convert.
Galatioto finished with six saves for Castleton while Bishop made 22, including 15 in the second half.
The Terriers will be back on the field Wednesday as they travel to conference rival Maine-Farmington at 3:30pm. Last fall Thomas fell to the Beavers 2-1 in Waterville.
