CASTLETON, Vt. – The Castleton University women's lacrosse team opened Little East Conference play on Saturday with a 17-3 loss to the University of Southern Maine at Dave Wolk Stadium.
 
The Huskies (5-5, 1-0 LEC) held a 31-11 shot advantage over Castleton (2-7, 0-1 LEC) and committed 16 turnovers to the Spartans' 25. Castleton went 9-of-15 clearing and USM was 16-of-18. USM had a 26-19 edge in ground balls and won 12-of-22 draw controls.
 
Maddie Brasser scored twice for Castleton and Lacey Greenamyre added the Spartans' third goal. Madelyn Cote assisted on both of Brasser's scores. Greenamyre and Colleen Sheridan tied for a team-high with five ground balls each. Greenamyre also had a team-high five draw controls and two caused turnovers. Her five ground balls pushed her over the 100 mark for her career, while her two caused turnovers moved her into seventh place all-time in program history. Katie Opiela stopped seven shots in goal in the contest.
 
Rachel Shanks led all players with four goals in the game, while Emily Cloutier netted three scores for USM. Kiaya Gatchell and Jillian Nichols had two goals and an assist each. Gatchell also had four ground balls while Julia McKenna had three caused turnovers and nine draw controls. Cierra Hill and Zowie Cheetham-Wilmot had three caused turnovers each. Cece Racine made four first-half saves before giving way to Lydia Laslavic who made two saves in the second half.
 
The Huskies poured in nine goals in the first quarter and led 11-1 at halftime, with the Spartans' lone first-half goal coming on a nifty score by Brasser after a pass from Cote.
 
USM pushed the lead to 16-1 in the third quarter before Brasser and Greenamyre scored consecutively. The Huskies tacked on a final goal late in the game to cap the scoring at 17-3.
 
The Spartans are back in action Wednesday night at New England College at 7 p.m.