CASTLETON, Vt. – Castleton snapped its two-game losing streak this evening, as it defeated the SUNY Canton Kangaroos 5-1 in non-conference action at Spartan Stadium. 

Jake Tietgens led the attack after producing a double, while Andrew Meister, Nihad Basic and Seth Wilmott all added goals of their own. The Spartans stand at 10-5-1 on the season with the victory, whereas the Kangaroos have now dropped four straight contests and stand at 4-11 overall. 

Tietgens opened the scoring in the 14th minute of play to give the Spartans an early one-goal lead. Paul Phillips delivered a fantastic ball over the top from 40 yards out that Tietgens chested to the ground before slotting it home for the first score of the contest. 

Just over two minutes later, Tietgens struck again with his tenth score of the season to double the Spartan advantage. The buildup was almost identical to the initial scoring play, as Thomas Kirk provided a long ball over the top that Tietgens collected and buried into the right half of the net to make it 2-0 in favor of the hosts.

With less than nine minutes left in the opening frame, Meister tacked on his first career goal to put the hosts ahead by three. Glenn Devine collected a pass near the 20-yard line before dribbling into the box and laying the ball off to Meister. The freshman midfielder crossed the ball over to his right foot before finishing a strike into the bottom left corner of the goal, giving Castleton a 3-0 advantage.

The Kangaroos got one back with 3:10 remaining in play after Nick Escalante scored on a header from Tyler Cook's cross, but the Spartans regained the three-goal advantage less than two minutes later when Wilmott collected his first goal of the season and second of his career. With a free kick just outside the box, the junior midfielder stepped up and buried a fantastic effort bar-down to hand the hosts a 4-1, halftime lead. 

The Spartans tacked a fifth score on in the second half thanks to Basic. Ndayisenga Van Dame dribbled into the box, where he found Basic with a pass floating in front of the net. The junior midfielder then turned and fired a shot across the face of the net and into the far corner of the goal to secure a 5-1, Castleton victory.

In his first start and fourth appearance of the season, Dan Palker turned in a solid performance with three saves to pick up his first win of the season. Aaron Parker relieved Palker for the final 8:09 of play and made three saves of his own. Mouhammed Thiam suffered the loss for SUNY Canton after recording two saves in 72 minutes of play, while Patrick Anunziatta had one save in 18 minutes of action.

Castleton returns to the pitch next week with a busy slate, as they face Colby-Sawyer on Tuesday, Oct. 20 at Spartan Stadium before hosting Husson and Maine Maritime in back-to-back days on Oct. 24-25.