(Release courtesy Castleton Sports Information)

CASTLETON, Vt. - The Castleton womens's soccer team beat Norwich 5-0 on Thursday night at Spartan Stadium in non-conference action.

 Castleton (4-3) tallied 39 shots while holding Cadets without a shooting attempt. Jessica Binkowski earned the win in net for the Spartans, earning her first shutout of the season without having to make a save. Allison Hull (South Royalton, Vt.) took the loss for Norwich.

Castleton started the scoring in the ninth minute when Mallory Costello netted her sixth goal of the season. Dominique Valancius beat a defender down the left flank and Norwich goalkeeper Allison Hull charged the loose ball. Valancius beat her to it and laced a cross to the center of the box where Costello ran onto it and put it away.

Kaileen Banks put the Spartans up 2-0 with a goal in the 28th minute. Jenna Bostwick fired a throw in deep into the box that found the head of Costello. The forward dinked a header off of the right post that ricocheted directly to Banks who put it in.

After the halftime break, the Spartans kept up the pressure, scoring in the 49th and 51st minute. Valancius scored her first of two goals after she dispossessed a Norwich defender and beat the keeper to put the Spartans up 3-0. Jessica Phillips scored just 1:56 later on a headed one-timer off a Halie Roberge corner kick, making the score 4-0.

In the 74th minute, Castleton extended its lead to 5-0 with Valancius' second score of the game. The forward ripped a shot from the right corner of the 18-yard box that clipped the fingers of the Norwich keeper, but tumbled into the net.

Castleton will travel to Henniker, N.H. to take on New England College in their North Atlantic Conference (NAC) opener on Saturday, Sept. 21.

Norwich will have a short turnaround before heading up to Saint Joseph's (Maine) on Saturday to resume Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) action. Kickoff is slated for 2:30 p.m. with the Monks.

-CADETS-