Courtesy of: Western Connecticut State Sports Information

DANBURY, Conn. - The Western Connecticut State University men's lacrosse team scored seven unanswered goals in the third and fourth quarters and held on down the stretch to earn a 9-8 victory over Castleton State College in the 2011 home-opener for the Colonials Sunday afternoon at the Westside Athletic Complex.

Senior James Dipientrantonio (Yorktown Heights, NY) and junior Sean Macey (New Fairfield, CT) each scored three goals to record hat-tricks for the Colonials.  Freshman Ryan Foster (Ledyard, CT), junior Mike Schoen (Tolland, CT), and junior Raul Bourgeois (New Milford, CT) added one goal each.  Junior Ryan Gillis (Norwich, CT) dished out a game-high four assists.

For Castleton, Alex Green (Braintree, VT) and Nohea King (St. Albans, VT) each scored three goals, while Alex Brands (Woodstock, VT) and Adam Groot (Canandaigua, NY) scored one goal apiece.

WestConn controlled the action early in the first quarter, taking a 2-0 lead on goals by Macey and Dipientrantonio. Castleton dominated the final three minutes of the period however, to take a 3-2.  The Castleton defense continued to put the clamps on WestConn in the second quarter, holding the Colonials scoreless and giving the visitors a 5-2 lead going into the locker room at intermission.

Defense and goal tending dominated play over the first 10 minutes of the second half, until Macey took a pass from Gillis and fired it between the goalie and the post to narrow the margin to 5-3.  With just under two minutes remaining in the third period, Gillis again rifled a pass, this time to Foster, who found the back of the net to make the score 5-4 heading into the fourth quarter.

Penalties factored in the scoring early in the fourth quarter. WestConn capitalized on three concurrent Spartan penalties, scoring three goals in two minutes to take a 7-5 lead.  The momentum continued for the Colonials over the next five minutes as goals by Bourgeois and Schoen put WestConn ahead 9-5 with five minutes to play.  With just under four minutes remaining, Green score back to back goals in just over 10 seconds to narrow the WestConn lead to 9-7.  The Spartans also scored the game's next goal, but with only one tick left on the clock, WestConn escaped with a 9-8 victory.

Junior goalkeeper Tyler Martone (Cheshire, CT) made 11 saves for the Colonials to earn his second victory of the season, while Dave Deghetto (Clifton, NJ) made 6 saves in a losing effort for Castleton, now 0-2 on the season.