This story was first posted in spring 2016.
By Paul Crookston
Gordon women’s lacrosse (6-9, 5-3 CCC) will head to defending CCC champion Western New England Saturday for a playoff rematch of their stinging loss Tuesday. In that game, senior Jessie Castelline scored two with four assists to become Gordon’s all-time leader in points.
By beating the Scots, WNE earned home field in the first round as the 4th seed in the CCC tournament, and the Scots fell to 5th, one spot below last year’s finish. But the players are are not discouraged after close losses to the top teams.
Bailey Grinnell ‘16 said, “The WNE game was definitely frustrating, leading at halftime and then losing it in the second half, but it showed us once again that we can play with any team in our conference.”
Other players echoed that confidence. “100% do I think that Roger and UNE are beatable,” Castelline said, when asked about the top seeds. The attitude around the team is that they will make the right adjustments to beat WNE in Saturday’s rematch.
The Scots have recovered well from a string of losses in the middle of the season, which were all to top teams. Eastern Connecticut is a strong out of conference opponent, while Roger Williams and UNE ended up finishing first and second in CCC.
After losing a frustrating 11-5 game against RWU, the Scots rattled off three straight dominant conference victories before dropping the season finale at WNE.
The first of those three victories was at Salve Regina, where Castelline scored six and Grinnell added a hat trick. After Castelline scored twice in the span of 15 seconds, the Scots took a 2-1 lead and never trailed thereafter. “When the entire team collectively decides to put their heart and soul on the line for the game, we play some incredible lacrosse and it is so much fun,” Grinnell said.
The Wentworth victory right after was a total blowout on the Scots’ home field and another six goal game for the star senior. Incredibly, Castelline also had four assists.
Not one to take her foot off the gas, Castelline scored seven with a pair of assists in the next game against Curry on senior day. Fellow seniors Grinnell and Christina Martin also made the score sheet with two goals and an assist respectively. “Tina, Jessie, and Bailey are such vital players on our team we are all going to miss them on and off the field once they graduate,” said Caroline Walton ’17.
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