CASTLETON, Vt. - Plymouth State University scored three goals in a 17-minute span of the first half Wednesday afternoon and went on to defeat Castleton State College, 4-3, in a non-conference men's soccer match in chilly Castleton, Vt.

            The Spartans opened the scoring just 2:44 into the contest when senior Matt Buhrke (Ravena, N.Y.) struck from the top of the 18-yard box after the Panthers failed to clear a Spartan corner kick. The Panthers then tallied three unanswered goals to take the lead. Freshman Dre Cabral (Tokyo, Japan) sent home a ball from classmate Alex Garneau (Twin Mountain, N.H.) just 20 seconds after the Castleton goal to make it 1-1. Freshman Dimitrios Kapotis (Woodsville, N.H.) gave the Panthers a lead they would not relinquish on his seventh goal of the season during the eighth minute of play as senior Semir Mehmedovic (Concord, N.H.) served a corner kick to the far side post where Kapotis was waiting and one touched it home. Mehmedovic added a penalty kick in the 21st minute to give Plymouth State a 3-1 lead.

            Castleton sophomore Chris Mulholland (Ridgefield Park, N.J.) scored his first goal of the season in the 26th minute to make 3-2 at halftime.

            The teams traded second half goals as PSU senior Adam Gove (Kingston, N.H.) made it 4-2 in the 58th minute off an assist from sophomore Alex Ciccolinifoley (York, Maine). Castleton freshman Jacob Ferry (Warwick, R.I.) scored his first collegiate goal in the 67th minute on a left-footed rocket, but it was as close as the Spartans would come.

            Senior keeper Ben Colona (Sandwich, Mass.) stopped two shots for the Spartans, and Buhrke made an outstanding team save in the second half for the 9-8 Spartans. Junior Dan Salzer (Dover, N.H.) made two first half saves to earn the win before giving way to senior Nick Giusto (West Islip, N.Y.) in the second half as Plymouth State improves to 5-8-2.

            Castleton will wrap up its season with a North Atlantic Conference match up on Saturday with Johnson State at 3:00 pm. Plymouth State hosts UMass Dartmouth Saturday in a key Little East Conference match-up at 4:30 p.m. 

(Courtesy of Castleton Sports Information) 

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