PLYMOUTH, N.H. -- The University of Southern Maine women's lacrosse team used a run of five consecutive second-half goals to build a 10-3 lead, then held off a furious Plymouth State University comeback bid over the final 12 minutes to post a 10-7 Little East Conference victory Tuesday afternoon at Panther Field.
            The win was the Huskies first against the Panthers since April 27, 2011, and just their third in the series that dates back to 1972.  The Huskies improved to 4-2 overall and 3-2 in LEC play with two games to play.  The Panthers dropped their second straight game after opening the season with four consecutive wins to stand at 4-2 overall and in the conference.
            Southern Maine led 5-1 at the halftime break on the strength of three goals from senior Megan Violette (Portland, Maine/Deering) and two from classmate Alex Farley (Buxton, Maine/Bonny Eagle).
            The home side cut the deficit to 5-3 with two markers from sophomore Olivia Croke (Norwell, Mass.) in the opening three minutes of the second half.  The Huskies defense stiffened, and the offense ran off the next five goals to make 10-3 with 12:50 to play.  Farley ignited the run with her third goal of the game and would add another with 17:21 to play.  Senior Taylor Colangelo (Windham, Maine) also had two goals in the run, and graduate student Jennifer Darasz (Gorham, Maine) contributed one.
            Plymouth State, sparked by senior Elizabeth McLaughlin's (Melvin Village, N.H./Kingswood Regional) three goals, would score the last four goals of the game to close the gap.
            Farley finished with four goals to lead USM's attack.  Violette finished with three goals and one assist.  Colangelo had two big goals, and Darasz had a goal and one assist.  Darasz also had six draw controls in the game.
            McLaughlin led all scorers with five points on four goals and one assist, and had five ground balls, four draw controls and five caused turnovers.  Croke had two goals and one assist.
            Senior goalie Mariah Vaillancourt (Lewiston, Maine/Edward Little) had an outstanding game for USM making 15 saves.  Senior Meaghan Allard (Amherst, N.H./Souhegan) stopped 10 shots in the Plymouth cage.
            Plymouth State had a 27-24 edge in shots, and a 22-16 advantage in ground balls.  Southern Maine had the edge around the center circle winning 11 of 18 draw controls.
            The Huskies are back in action on Thursday hosting Rhode Island College in a rescheduled game.  No spectators are allowed.  Plymouth State finishes the regular season on Saturday hosting in-state rival Keene State College.