CASTLETON, Vt. - Castleton earned a trip to the semifinals after defeating Maine Maritime Academy, 4-0, on Saturday afternoon at Spartan Stadium. The second-seeded Spartans earned their ninth consecutive North Atlantic Conference tournament win by downing the seventh-seeded Mariners.

Mallory Costello finished the game with a goal and an assist while Jenna Bostwick netted a pair of scores to lift the Spartans over the Mariners and into the semifinal round. Jessica Binkowski made three saves in net for the Spartans to earn a shutout win, while MMA goalie Taylor O'Malley stopped 10 shots in the loss.

The scoring started in the eighth minute of play on a beautiful passing sequence by the Spartans, Costello received a ball drifting down the right flank and crossed it to Dominique Valancius, who placed a one-touch chip into the goal mouth where Nicole Wershoven finished it with a header. The goal put the Spartans up 1-0 in the early going.

Later in the first half, Castleton struck again, this time with Costello doing the dirty work. The sophomore forward drew a foul inside the MMA box to earn a penalty kick. Costello lined up at the 12-yard mark and drilled the ball into the bottom left corner of the net to put Castleton up 2-0 going into the halftime break.

In the second half, Jenna Bostwick netted a pair of insurance goals to extend the Castleton lead. In the 60th minute, Castleton midfielder Blaire Hooper drilled a free kick into the center of the box where Bostwick elevated to flick it goalwards, redirecting the ball past O'Malley and into the net. In the 90th minute, Bostwick struck again, this time off of a give and go with Hooper. The pair passed it back and forth on the right flank before Bostwick uncorked a left-footed shot that found the bottom left corner of the net, putting Castleton up 4-0. 

The Spartans improved to 12-7-1 on the season and will face third seeded Maine-Farmington in the semifinal round at Spartan Stadium on a date to be determined. The Mariners ended their season with a 3-12-2 mark.

Goals by period       1  2  Tot

 -------------------------------

 Maine Maritime......  0  0 -  0

 Castleton...........  2  2 -  4

 SCORING SUMMARY:

  1.   7:01 CAST Nicole Wershoven (Dominique Valancius;Mallory Costello) - 22 cross, 8 one-touch, 11 header

  2.  27:31 CAST Mallory Costello (unassisted) - Foul in box drawn by 22

  3.  59:56 CAST Jenna Bostwick (Blair Hooper) - Header off Direct Kick

  4.  89:02 CAST Jenna Bostwick (Blair Hooper) - *

 Shots: Maine Maritime 3, Castleton 31

 Saves: Maine Maritime 10 (Taylor O'Malley 10), Castleton 3 (Jessica

 Binkowski 3)