Danbury, CT – The Castleton State College men's lacrosse team opened the 2009 season with a a tough 20-9 loss at Western Connecticut State University, Sunday afternoon at the Westside Athletic Complex.

For Castleton, Kevin McCarthy, Jake Rick, Kirk Bolduc, Korey Counos, Michael DelDotto , Craig MacDerment, Jeremy Peyton, Derek Riley, and Daniel Luzzi each scored once in a losing effort for the Spartans.

Freshman Sean Macey led the WestConn attack with seven goals in his first collegiate appearance. Junior Adam Lanehart scored five goals and had one assist, while freshman Ryan Gillis added two goals. Also scoring for the Colonials were senior George Tsirigotis, junior A.J. Barbieri, senior Joseph Aitken, freshman Alex Szwed, freshman Tyler Hutkowski, and freshman Mike Shoen who each scored once.

WestConn took control of the game early, scoring the first six goals and keeping Castleton State off the scoreboard for the first 10 minutes.  Adam Lanehart, WestConn's leading scorer in 2008, scored the game's first goal at the 12:36 mark and was followed one minute later by newcomer Sean Macey.  Lanehart and Macey would combine for 12 of WestConn's 19 goals. At the end of the first period the Colonials had established an 8-2 lead.  Castleton fought back in the second period, scoring three unanswered goals in less than one minute to draw within four, 10-6.  The Colonials answered with a four-goal run of their own and went into intermission with a 14-6 lead.

With this afternoon's victory, WestConn is now 1-0 on the season, while Castleton falls to 0-1.

Castleton will take on New England College Tuesday, March 10 at 4:00 pm. The game will be played at Kimball Union Academy in Plainfield, New Hampshire.