GORHAM, Maine -- Sophomore Cassidy Barry (Branford, Conn./Mercy) scored a team-high four goals to lead the Plymouth State University Panthers to a 16-4 victory over the University of Southern Maine Huskies in a Little East Conference women's lacrosse game Thursday afternoon at Hodgdon Field in Gorham.

The win was the sixth straight for the surging Panthers who improve to 10-4 overall and 5-1 in the conference. The Panthers also clinched second place in the LEC standings and a first round bye in the conference tournament that starts next week.

The Huskies dropped their second straight to fall to 5-7 overall and 1-3 in conference play.

The teams traded goals in the opening four minutes, and were still tied at 1-1 when Barry snapped the deadlock with 17:32 to go in the opening half. The goal sparked a run of 11 straight PSU goals before the end of the half as the visitors took a comfortable 12-1 advantage into halftime.

Four goals in a span of 1:23 increased the Panthers' 4-1 lead to 8-1.

Freshman Taylor Cambal (West Yarmouth, Mass./Tabor) had a team-high five points for the Panthers on three goals and two assists. Senior Kelsey MacDonald (Oak Bluffs, Mass./Martha's Vineyard) was the only other multiple goal scorer for the Panthers with two markers.

Freshman Jessica Knight (Alfred, Maine/Massabesic) led the Huskies offense with two goals.

Junior goalie Suzie Lilakos (Stratham, N.H./Exeter) was credited with nine saves in the PSU cage. Junior Katie Quartuccio (Poughkeepsie, N.Y./Millbrook School) had seven saves for USM.

Southern Maine has two conference games remaining this weekend. USM will travel to Keene State College on Saturday (1:00 p.m.) before hosting Rhode Island College in a makeup game on Sunday (1:00 p.m.). Plymouth State closes the regular season on Saturday (1:00 p.m.) hosting Bridgewater State College in a non-conference game.

2007-04-26