Women’s Soccer Shuts out Maine Maritime

The women’s soccer team scored all six of their goals in the first half as the Spartans crushed Maine Maritime 6-0 on Saturday afternoon at Spartan Stadium.
“We wanted to come out and set the tone early,” said head coach Chris Chapdelaine. “Four goals in the first 12 minutes is how to set the tone.”
The Spartans were led by freshman sensation Dominique Valancius who scored two goals on the day. Sophomore Mallory Costello recorded two assists for Castleton to lead the team, while four players; Nicole Wershoven, Nicole Gay, Kalieen Banks and Blair Hooper, each recorded one goal on the day.
Hooper started the scoring off three minutes in on a strike from 20 yards out. Just four minutes later the Spartans scored again. This time, it was Valancius, who beat the keeper to take the lead to 2-0 just 7 minutes into the contest.
Wershoven netted a goal on an assist from Jessica Phillips two and half minutes later to bring the score to 3-0 and a mere 30 seconds later Valancius scored her second goal of the contest off an assist from Costello.
“I thought that we played really well the whole game,” said junior midfielder Jenna Bostwick. “We got a full team effort today in the win which is real good for us as a squad.”
The first half scoring surge may have slowed, but it didn’t stop as Gay was able to net her first goal of the season on a direct kick from 30 yards out 25 minutes into the game. Fifteen minutes later, Banks scored the Spartans sixth and final goal in the contest off a pass from Bostwick, making it 6-0. That is how it would end as no goals were scored by either squad in the second half.
The Spartans defense played exceptionally well not allowing a single shot on net and only two shots total. Castleton took 13 corner kicks which created great opportunities for them to score, while Maritime was held without a single one.
With the win the Spartans improve to 7-3 on the year with a 3-0 record in conference. They also took on Husson Sunday to finish off a NAC weekend.
“We stuck to our plan today and it’s important to do that,” Chapdelaine said. “We are growing every day in the right direction. We just need to come out and play our game from the start.”