CASTLETON, Vt. -- Junior Rachel Shanks (Naples, Maine/Lake Region) scored a game-high five goals and passed out three assists to lead the visiting University of Southern Maine Huskies to a 19-6 victory over the Castleton University Spartans in a Little East Conference women's lacrosse game Saturday afternoon at Dave Wolk Stadium.
            The win improved the Huskies overall mark to 3-1, and 2-1 in LEC play.  The Spartans dropped to 1-5 overall and 0-2 in conference games.
            The Huskies rolled out to a 14-0 lead in the opening half to take command of the game.  Shanks paced the offense with four goals.  Senior Alex Farley (Buxton, Maine/Bonny Eagle) had three goals, and graduate student Jennifer Darasz (Gorham, Maine) and rookie Kiaya Gatchell (Portland, Maine/Deering) had two apiece.
            Southern Maine pushed its lead up to 18-0 on senior Megan Violette's (Portland, Maine/Deering) third goal of the game with just under 13 minutes remaining in the game.
            Sophomore Lacey Greenamyre (Middlebury, Vt.) finally got the Spartans on the board with 11:14 remaining.  That sparked a run of six consecutive Spartan goals, three coming off the stick of rookie Kimberly McCarthy (West Sayville, N.Y.).
            Shanks' five goals were a career high and her eight points were another career best.  Farley finished the game with four goals, and Gatchell had two assists to go along with her two goals for a four-point game.  Violette had three goals, and Darasz had three points on two goals and one assist.  Senior Taylor Colangelo (Windham, Maine) had a three-point day with one goal and two assists.
            Senior Mariah Vaillancourt (Lewiston, Maine/Edward Little) and rookie Cece Racine (Lewiston, Maine) split the goaltending chores for the Huskies.  Vaillancourt played the opening half making one save to earn her third win of the season.  Racine played the second half stopping three shots.  Junior Raven Payne (Cornwall, Vt./Middlebury Union) and rookie Carley Curtis (West Edmeston, N.Y.) combined to make 11 saves for Castleton.
            Southern Maine out shot Castleton 36-17 for the game, and won the battle of the ground balls 20-16.  USM had a 13-11 edge at the center circle, including a dominating 12-3 advantage in the first half.
            The Huskies are scheduled to be back in action on Tuesday (4:00 p.m.) hosting Rhode Island College in a Little East Conference game at Hannaford Field.  The Spartans will host Plymouth State University for an LEC game on Tuesday evening.