CASTLETON, Vt. –The Spartans took advantage of a large shot differential to take a 2-1 non-conference victory over the Panthers of Plymouth St. Wednesday night at Spartan Stadium.

Castleton outshot the Panthers 11-3 in the first half and finished the game outshooting Plymouth St. 25-13.  With the win the Spartans improve to 6-1 on the season while Plymouth St. falls to 2-6 overall.

The win was also the 100th for head coach John Werner at Castleton. He is the third coach in the history of the men's soccer program to achieve that milestone and the fastest of the three, in just his ninth season with the Spartans.

Castleton took advantage of the early fouls and opened the scoring on an indirect free kick inside the 18 yard-line at the 23:31 mark of the first half.  Senior defender, Dillon Zaengle (Westhampton, Mass.) tapped the ball to senior Tanner LeCuyer (Plattsburgh, N.Y.), who fired the ball through a wall of Plymouth defenders to pick up his second goal of the season, giving the Spartans a 1-0 lead which they carried into halftime. In seven games, the Castleton has yet to allow a first half goal.

The Spartans tacked onto the lead in the 52nd minute of the match.  Sophomore Bryce Kaler (Burnt Hills, N.Y.) picked up his team-leading fifth goal of the season when he one-timed a deflection from inside the six to give the Spartans a 2-0 lead.

Plymouth State was able to get on the scoreboard, scoring in the 61st minute.  Senior midfielder Alex Garneau (Twin Mountain, N.H.) passed the ball 25 yards forward to sophomore Josh Knol (Wellington, New Zealand), who then was able to beat Spartan junior keeper, Nate Koenemann (Montpelier, Vt.) on a shot to the near post of the goal to make it 2-1.

Castleton was able to maintain control of the game for the rest of the match to hold onto the victory.

Koenemann gave up one goal and had seven saves on the night to improve his record to 6-1.  Plymouth senior keeper, Bjorn Ohlsson (Halmstad, Sweden) gave up two goals and had eight saves on the evening as his record dropped to 2-5.

Castleton returns to action on Saturday when it travels to Henniker, N.H. to take on the Pilgrims of New England College 2:30 p.m.