UTICA, N.Y. – The Castleton University men's lacrosse team returned to action for the first time in 26 days on Thursday, dropping a non-conference matchup at SUNY Poly by a final score of 9-3.
 
Castleton (0-5) was outshot 36-21 on the afternoon by the Wildcats (5-0), including a 21-11 margin in shots on goal. The face-off battle was split evenly, 8-8, and Castleton was more efficient clearing the ball: 14-of-18 compared of 13-of-20 for SUNY Poly. Both sides turned the ball over at a high rate, with Castleton ending at 29 turnovers and SUNY Poly 23. The Wildcats held a significant advantage in ground balls, 42-27, and scored two man-up goals to Castleton's one.
 
Hunter Sarro made the most of his collegiate debut, leading the team in points after a one-goal, one-assist outing. The freshman scored Castleton's first goal of the day to tie the game at 1-1, before assisting on the Spartans' third and final goal of the afternoon. Chris LaBonte and Cam Frankenhoff also found their way onto the scoresheet with one goal each. Ryan Palmisano had four ground balls and went 8-for-16 on face-offs, while Jason Venezia had three ground balls and caused two turnovers defensively. Maxx Ingison stopped nine shots in the game while allowing six goals, and Chris Wilk stopped three shots with three goals allowed.
 
Shane Wyman had a big day for the Wildcats, netting two goals and two assists for a game-high four points. Andrew Maycock notched a hat trick, while Brody Guido added a goal and an assist for SUNY Poly. Steven Sullivan led all players with six ground balls while Bennett Smith added five ground balls of his own and Tyler Schmitz caused a game-high four turnovers. Matthew Johnson earned the win in goal with eight saves and three goals against in 55 minutes of play.
 
SUNY Poly got on the board first, scoring less than three minutes into the contest. Castleton leveled the score just before the end of the first quarter, as Sarro found the back of the net with 42 seconds remaining in the opening frame.
 
The two sides again went a lengthy period without a goal, as the next score came for SUNY Poly with just 2:42 remaining in the first half. That would be the last score before the break, as the host Wildcats led 2-1 at halftime.
 
SUNY Poly caught fire out of the break, scoring five times unanswered in the third quarter to extend its lead to 7-1. The scoring started just two minutes into the third quarter to make it 3-1 before a flurry of goals over a two minute stretch at the midway point of the quarter make it 6-1. SUNY Poly tacked on a final third-quarter goal with 1:48 to play in the frame.
 
Castleton scored the first two goals of the final quarter, as Frankenhoff notched a score unassisted just over three minutes into the fourth before LaBonte finished off a goal on an assist from Sarro just 41 seconds later. After six scoreless minutes by both sides, the Wildcats pushed their lead back to five goals, 8-3, with 5:04 to play in the game, before closing out the scoring with 3:45 to play, giving the game its final score of 9-3.