BENNINGTON, Vt. — The Southern Vermont College men's soccer team fell 6-0 Wednesday afternoon to Castleton University as the Spartans scored five second-half goals to pad their lead in non-conference action at Everett Field.
Southern Vermont trailed just 1-0 going to the break, but Castleton was able extend the advantage in the second half to pull away with its third straight victory.
The Mountaineers are back on their home pitch Saturday when they host Vermont Technical College for a 12 p.m. non-league tilt. Castleton next heads to Lyndon State College on Saturday for a 1 p.m. match which starts its North Atlantic Conference schedule.
Castleton controlled the action from the start, keeping the ball in SVC's end of the field for a majority of the opening period. The Spartans owed a 10-3 edge in shots during the first 45 minutes while taking 12 corner kicks to the Mountaineers' one. Still, the Southern Vermont defense and freshman keeper Noah Chani (Hoosick Falls, N.Y.) were able to hold tough and allow just a single goal which came in the 22nd minute.
The Spartans possessed the ball into the upper third of the field down the left side and got a successful cross into the middle of the box. Junior Solo Felekini (Burlington, Vt.) controlled the pass and had a look at the frame but instead elected to lay it off to Blake Hart (Farmington, Maine) who was running through the box at goal. The Castleton senior blasted it home for his first goal of the season, putting the visitors in front by what would end up being the halftime score.
The visitors opened up the lead at the 64:20 mark of the match when a scramble in the box allowed Spartan Nihad Basic (Burlington, Vt.) to put it into the back of the next for Castleton's first goal of the second half. They would go on to add four more en route to the non-conference win.
Castleton senior keeper Amir Pasic (Burlington, Vt.) made one save in his 75:25 of action for the win (4-2) while Chani turned away seven Spartan shots in the loss (0-4), most of those being from great reactions on point-blank takes.