CASTLETON, Vt. – Second-seeded Castleton State College used a balanced scoring attack and stifling defense to earn a 14-3 win over the third seed Husson University in North Atlantic Conference (NAC) Men's Lacrosse semifinal action Wednesday evening at Spartan Stadium.

Winners of two-straight conference titles, the win propels Castleton to its ninth-straight appearance in the final at 11-7 overall. The Spartans will take on top-seeded New England College, which advanced to the final by way of a 16-5 win over Maine Maritime. Husson's season ends at 11-8 as the Eagles set a new high-water mark for wins in a season.

Alex Green (Braintree, Vt.) gave Castleton a 2-0 lead by the midpoint of the first period, scoring consecutive goals with the second coming off a nifty setup by Phil Patterson (Essex, Vt.).

Nick Brown (Fort Worth, Texas) sliced the deficit in half as he was credited with his 22nd goal of the season on a deflected pass that found its way past Castleton goalie Eric Horsfield (Tolland, Conn.).

From that point on it was all Castleton, as the Spartans rattled off four-straight, and eight of the next nine markers to take a commanding 10-2 lead into the final period.

Four different Spartans registered goals during the initial 4-0 run, including Green's third and a goal and an assist from Zach Davidson (South Burlington, Vt.).

Mitch Heaps (York, Pa.) briefly stopped the Spartan momentum as he was on the receiving end of a perfect assist from Brown at the 4:16 mark of the second period to make it 6-2 heading into halftime.

Castleton then scored four-unanswered goals in the third to effectively put the game out of reach. Davidson potted his second of the contest during the surge, and three new scorers joined the fray, culminating with an Evan Tucker (Rising Sun, Md.) goal from Nohea King (St. Albans, Vt.) after the Spartans methodically worked the ball around the Eagle defense.

Wayne Stubbs (Keene, N.H.) opened the fourth-period scoring for Husson, making it 10-3 with 13:08 remaining, but again Castleton answered with four-straight goals, two of which came off assists from Cam Ormiston (Wakefield, R.I.).

Nine different Spartans registered at least one point in the win, led by Ormiston's one-goal, three-assist performance. Green added three goals, while Davidson and King each chipped in with two goals and a helper. Will Stuhler (Madison, N.J.) and Tucker each had two goals, while Patterson had two assists to round out the multiple-point Spartans.

Castleton held a distinct advantage in shots (51-19), ground balls (45-23) and at the faceoff 'X' as Brad Barber (Napean, Ont.) won an impressive 16-of-21. Horsfield ended the contest with six saves, including five in the first half as eight of the Eagles first seven shots were on net. In the second half the Spartan defense kept Horsfield clean as just two of the final 11 Husson shots found their way to the keeper. NAC Defensive Player of the Year Adam Farmer (South Burlington, Vt.) led the charge with two caused turnovers and nine ground balls.

Husson goalie John Hooper III (Wakefield, R.I.) made 16 saves in the loss, while Vincent Vinsconti (North Andover, Mass.) corralled a team-high five ground balls.