Castleton, VT – The Castleton State College women's lacrosse team raced out to a 6-1 halftime lead, and held on for  a 13-10 non-conference win over University of Southern Maine Sunday afternoon at Spartan Stadium.

With the win Castleton improves to 4-3, while the Huskies fall to 3-2.

Angelica Mazzola (Centerport, NY) and Nicole Adams (Rutland, VT) led the Spartans with three goals apiece, while Stephanie Pearce (Shoreham, NY) had a team-high five points on two goals and three assists. Elizabeth Haggerty (Centerport, NY) chipped in two goals, while Aimee Goulette (Baldwinsville, NY), Katelyn Nardini (Scotia-Glenville, NY) and Marie VanDerKar (Manchester, VT) each added one.

Jessica Knight (Alfred, ME) scored three goals to pace the Huskies, while Shelby Turcotte (Lewiston, ME) and Haley Jordan (Falmouth, ME) each added two goals and one assist. Kristy Kendrick (Waterboro, ME) chipped in two goals and Mary Vaughan (Brunswick, ME) rounded out the scoring with a single marker.

The Spartans opened up the early lead, thanks in large part to converting 10-of-13 clear attempts and forcing 19 Southern Maine turnovers. Pearce opened the scoring 6:14 into the game, converting on a free position attempt from the center hash. Haggerty scored on an unassisted tally three minutes later to give Castleton the 2-0 advantage. Turcottee cut the margin in half with her seventh goal of the season, but Castleton answered with a 4-0 run to end the half. The lead could have been larger, as the Spartans rifled off 18 shots to just five for Southern Maine, but Samantha Kiesel (Lakeville, MA) stopped nine shots on net to keep the Huskies close.

Southern Maine closed the gap to 8-5 on Jordan's fifth goal of the season with 14:22 remaining, but after a Castleton timeout, the Spartans earned the ensuing draw control and advanced into the attack zone. After the initial Spartan run was turned away by the Husky defense, Adams turned in a nifty spin move, switched hands and scored low on Kiesel with 13:08 left. Adams pushed the lead back to five (10-5) just over one minute later, converting on a free position attempt. Pearce tacked on her 15th of the season with 10:35 remaining, and after a free position goal from Vaughan, Castleton received goals from Mazzola and VanDerKar to push the lead to 13-6.

The Spartan appeared to have the game well in hand, but four Southern Maine goals over the final four minutes of play tightened the final margin.

 For the game, Castleton owned a 33-20 edge in shots and forced 35 turnover to just 23 giveaways of their own. Castleton was also solid in transition, converting 17-of-23 clear attempts, while holding the Huskies to under 50% at 13-for-28.

Kiesel ended the contest with 17 saves, while Brittney Bennett (Kennebunk, ME) had a team-high six ground balls to go along with one draw control and two caused turnovers.

Rebecca Duszak (Erieville, NY) stopped two shots in 51:16 of action, before being lifted in favor of Lily Derbyshire (Little Compton, RI) who stopped a pair over the final 8:44. VanDerKar turned in a solid overall performance with four ground balls, four draw controls and five caused turnovers.

Castleton returns to action Tuesday at 4:00 p.m. when the Spartans play host to Green Mountain College. Southern Maine will host Bowdoin on Wednesday at 7:00 p.m.