Castleton, VT-Castleton State College fell behind 4-0 early, and could not recover as the Spartans fell 11-7 to the University of Southern Maine in non-conference women's lacrosse action.

Southern Maine opened the scoring 2:15 into the contest as Jessica Knight notched her 23rd goal of the season unassisted. The Huskies tallied three more times during the first 8:30 of play before Castleton could get on the board to take a 4-0 lead. Caitlin Albert keyed the early run with a goal and an assist.

Castleton's DeeDee Schroeder and Ashley Asker scored to cut the lead to 4-2, but the Huskies answered with a 3-0 run over the final 7:42 of the first half to take a 7-2 lead into intermission.

Knight once again opened the scoring for Southern Maine in the second half, this time scoring 1:50 in to give the Huskies a commanding 8-2 lead. Castleton fought back as Marie VanDerKar scored her 27th goal of the season, and Stephanie Pearce added goals number 27 and 28 to cut the lead to three with 17:00 minutes remaining. Once again Southern Maine had an answer as Shannon Kynoch scored back-to-back goals to put the game away.

Knight, Kynoch, and Mary Vaughn each scored a pair of goals to lead the 5-7 Huskies. Goalie, Katie Quartuccio stopped eight shots in the win.

Pearce scored a team-high four goals as Castleton falls to 6-5 on the season. Meredith Pope took the loss in net, stopping eight shots.

Castleton returns to NEWLA action Sunday afternoon with a trip to Thomas College, game time is 1:00 pm.