CASTLETON, Vt. – Jess Smithson scored twice and added an assist as Vermont State University Castleton broke open a 2-1 game with four goals in an 18-minute span in the second half to sprint past the Keene State College field hockey team 6-1 in an important Little East Conference contest on Tuesday night at Dave Wolk Stadium.

The Owls (13-4, 4-1 LEC) entered unbeaten in league play (outscoring such opponents 27-7) and were a win away from clinching the top seed for the upcoming conference tournament.  However, those hopes came crashing down in their most lopsided loss on the scoreboard of the season.  Castleton (12-4, 3-0 LEC), winners of six straight and now 8-1 at home, now controls their own destiny in the LEC by holding what is essentially a two-game lead  with three games to go on their schedule.  KSC's lone remaining Little East game is this Saturday at Eastern Connecticut State University, and now their only shot at finishing in first place will require winning that contest and having the Spartans lose at least one, if not two, of their final three games (at Southern Maine, at Plymouth State, home vs. UMass-Dartmouth).  KSC won the league regular season title five times between 2011 and 2016, though their lone one since came in 2021.

Remarkably given the final score and margin, it was just a 1-0 Castleton lead at the break tonight.  It was 2-1 at the 33:58 mark after Grace Bazin's team-leading 24th goal responded to the Spartans' tally by Amelia Wilson 1:20 into the second half.  However, the wheels fell off from there, as Emilee Higgins' goal with 4:19 to go in the third quarter to propel the home team back to a two-goal lead wound up opening the flood gates for a barrage of Castleton goals.  Smithson scored the first of her two goals over the final nine minutes in the 52nd minute off a feed from Haley Lassen to make it 4-1, and Peyton Richardson checked off her third assist of the evening when Ava Laross scored with 3:42 to go.  Smithson accounted for the final margin 2:37 later, and the Spartans outshot KSC in the final period 8-3 after they were outshot in the opening three quarters overall.  After neither team had a corner chance in the first half, the Spartans had a whopping 10 corner chances (KSC five) over the final 30 minutes and scored off four of them.  Keene State has now allowed 14 goals over their last four games and 31 over the past 10 contests after allowing five over the opening seven games.

The Owls also allowed the opening goal for the seventh time in the past eight outings, finding themselves behind just 3:20 into the game when Richardson set up Arianna Spiezio for a 1-0 lead.  It would stay that way all the way until halftime, with the teams combining for just eight shots (four apiece) over the first two quarters.

KSC surrendered another rapid goal to start the second half to fall into a 2-0 deficit, but pushed after that.  Following Bazin's tally that made it a one-goal game again, Owls goalkeeper Katelyn Nicotera stopped Lassen's effort 26 seconds later.  The visitors then had a shot to equalize midway through the third, but Spartans keeper Zoe Martin shots from four different people in less than two minutes to keep her team ahead.  They would give her plenty of support from there as the Spartans posted their first win over KSC by more than one goal in the 19-game history of the series.  The Owls lead it 14-4, but have dropped two of the last three, both in Vermont.  Mixed in are 5-3 and 9-2 victories in Keene – though with tonight's defeat, it is now far more likely if these two sides meet again it will be a second trip to Dave Wolk Stadium.

"Castleton was the much better team tonight," said KSC head coach Amy Watson.  "We were outplayed by them the entire game."

Martin made seven saves to lead Castleton in the win, while Nicotera stopped five for the Owls.

KSC's matchup at ECSU (5-8, 1-2 LEC) on Saturday (October 26) will start at 4:00 p.m.  The Warriors have lost three straight.