Women’s Soccer Toppled by VTSU-Castleton

NORTH ADAMS, Mass.—The MCLA Women's Soccer team welcomed Vermont State Castleton to Shewcraft Field this evening for a non-conference matchup with the Spartans. MCLA's Kylie DeMaio scored for the second time in as many games, but Castleton's Maggie McKearin scored twice as the Spartans took home the 4-1 victory.

THE BASICS:

• Date: Wednesday, September 18, 2024
• Score: VTSU-Castleton 4, MCLA 1
• Records: Vermont State Castleton Spartans 4-2-0 (LEC 0-0-0) | MCLA Trailblazers 0-5-0 (MASCAC 0-0-0)
• Series History: VTSU-Castleton leads the all-time series 17-16-0, including a 7-0 win by VTSU when the teams last met on October 27, 2021, at Castleton. The Spartans also won the first-ever matchup between the teams by a score of 3-2 on October 19, 1985, at MCLA.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Castleton's Maggie McKearin opened the scoring in the 14^th minute when she accepted a pass near the penalty stripe and juked an MCLA defender before getting off a dribbler of a shot that found its way into the broad side of the net.
• The Spartans doubled their lead in the 20^th minute when Rylee Pepin converted on a penalty shot after being felled at the edge of the penalty area. Pepin hit a low line drive of a shot into the lower left corner. The goal was Pepin's first of the year.
• Alexis Billings extended the VTSU-Castleton lead to 3-0 in the 51^st minute when she chipped in a shot from about 20 yards out that escaped the MCLA netminder's out-reached hands. The goal was Billings' seventh of the year.
• Fifty-nine seconds later, the Spartans added one final goal when McKearin tallied her second goal of the night and her fourth of the season after a series of give-and-go passes. Assists were credited to Billings and Becky Hannwacker.
• MCLA found their way onto the scoreboard in the 73^rd minute when Kylie DeMaio (Roxbury, NY) scored her second goal in as many games. With the visitors attempting to clear the ball from their own end, Gwendolyn Duggan (Palmer, MA) harried a Castleton defender into a turnover and split a pair of Spartans with a pass ahead into the box where DeMaio closed in and caught the goalkeeper flat footed with a shot into the lower left side of the net.
• Trailblazers' keeper Mallory Amirian (Haverhill, MA) stopped 12 shots on the night but still saw their record fall to 0-5-0. For VTSU-Castleton, Emma Ezzo stopped both shots she faced before giving way at halftime to Ella Hall and picked up the win to improve her record to 4-2-0. Hall finished with four saves on five shots in her relief effort.

UP NEXT:

On Saturday, MCLA will be back in action when they travel to Framingham State for a MASCAC matchup with the Rams at Maple Street Field. The teams will take the pitch for an 11 a.m. kickoff.

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