PORTLAND, Maine -- The nationally ranked Colby College women's lacrosse team scored the first 10 goals of the game to cruise past the University of Southern Maine, 18-3, in a non-conference game Tuesday afternoon at Memorial Field.

            The win was the second straight to open the 2011 campaign for the eighth-ranked Mules.  The Huskies dropped their second straight to slide to 0-2.  The game was a rematch of last year's NCAA tournament first round game.

            Senior Casey Thomas (Needham, Mass.) paced a balanced offense scoring three times and dishing out one assist.  Rookie Sarah Lux (Manlius, N.Y.) had two goals and two assists, and junior Claire Donegan (Great Falls, Va.) scored one goal and dished off a game-high three assists.  Freshman Katie Griffin (Duxbury, Mass.) shared game-high goal-scoring honors with Thomas netting three.  In all, 11 different players tallied goals for the Mules.

            Senior Sarah Warnke (Lakeville, Conn.) and rookie Michelle Burt (Woodbridge, Conn.) spilt the goaltending chores for Colby each playing a half.  Warnke recorded one save in the first half while Burt stopped four shots in the second stanza.

            Freshman Rosie Forster (Andover, Mass.) had two goals, and classmate Jackie Kelly (Brunswick, Maine) tallied one, for Southern Maine.  Sophomore goalie Samantha Kiesel (Lakeville, Mass./Kents Hill) finished the game with 17 saves.

            Colby raced to a 5-0 lead less than six minutes into the game on goals by Lux (two), Thomas, Donegan, and senior Kate Gragnolati (Chevy Chase, Md.) to establish a firm control on the game.  The lead grew to 10-0 before Forster put USM on the board with 3:23 to play in the half.

            Forster and Kelly found the net in the opening five minutes of the second half to close the gap to 10-3, but the Huskies would get no closer.  The Mules scored eight unanswered goals over the final 20 minutes to pull away.  The Mules finished the game with a 43-10 advantage in shots attempted and a 31-21 edge in ground balls.

            Southern Maine will be back on the Memorial Field turf on Thursday (4:00 p.m.) hosting the University of Maine Farmington.  Colby will play its home opener on Friday (5:00 p.m.) entertaining Tufts University.

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