CASTINE, Maine – Maine Maritime Academy women's lacrosse fell to Castleton 18-4, on Saturday afternoon in North Atlantic Conference (NAC) action on Ritchie Field.

The Spartans jumped out to a 9-0 lead before Tori Cooper (Saco, Maine) put the Mariners on the board with a free position goal at 11:33. The Spartans closed out the second half on a four-goal run to take a 13-1 lead into halftime.

Shelby O'Neil (Bar Harbor, Maine) scored a free position goal to open up the second half, and teammate Briana Obshatkin (Dedham, Mass.) added an unassisted goal at 22:30 to cut the Spartans' lead to 13-3. Grace Johnson scored at 15:38 to extend Castleton's lead to 11 points but Cooper found Ashlee Knight (Anson, Maine) in front of the net, to close the gap back down to 10. The Spartans scored four goals to finish off the game with the 18-4 win.

Cooper led the Mariners with a goal and an assist as well as scooping up a team-high four ground balls. O'Neil led the team with four draw controls while adding a goal and Obshatkin led the team with three caused turnovers and added goal.

Tiffany Danyow led the Spartans with four goals, Emily Cross, Johnson, and Ashley Pelkey added hat tricks, and Bre Babiarz and Hannah Braman chipped in with two goals each. Johnson tallied a game-high eight draw controls, and Nadine Downing scooped up a team-best four ground balls.

Sierra James (Campton, N.H.) stopped four shots in net for the Mariners in the loss, while Castleton's Samantha Hebb stopped eight shots in net in the victory.

The Mariners fall to 2-1 overall and 1-1 in the conference, while the Spartans improve to 1-4 on the season and 1-0 in the NAC. Maine Maritime returns to action tomorrow, Sunday, March 26 when they host the College of Mount Saint Vincent at 12:00 pm on Ritchie Field.