CASTLETON, Vt. – An early deficit proved too much to overcome for the Castleton men's lacrosse team Friday evening, as the Spartans fell 14-9 to University of St. Joseph (Conn.) at Dave Wolk Stadium.
 
The Spartans (0-3) trailed 5-0 after the first 15 minutes, but played even with the Blue Jays (2-2) over the ensuing 45 minutes of the contest. The Blue Jays controlled the stat sheet, outshooting Castleton 52-26 overall and 25-14 on goal. The Spartans committed 24 turnovers to USJ's 15, with Castleton going 15-of-21 on clear attempts. The Blue Jays were 10-of-12 clearing. USJ also had a 35-20 edge in ground balls and 12-11 edge in face-off wins. The Spartans converted on 3-of-5 man-up opportunities.
 
Three players netted two goals for the Spartans, as Sean Kimura, Hunter Sarro and Dawson Nalette accounted for six of Castleton's goals on the day. Kimura also had two assists for a four-point day. Casey Meczywor scored once and assisted twice for three total points, while Nalette added an assist to his two goals for a three-point game as well. Jonah Janaro and Ethan Esposito tallied scores for the Spartans, while Griffin Weller and Collin Johnson notched assists. Ryan Palmisano won 8-of-16 face-offs for the Spartans and collected two ground balls. Chris Wilk stopped 11 shots in goal in the loss.
 
Noah Mocksfield, Evan Baden and Evan Zimnoch each accrued hat tricks for the Blue Jays, with Baden also adding three assists in the game. Ryan Paltauf racked up six helpers, while Samuel Barbetti had six ground balls and went 9-of-19 in face-offs. Trey McCann earned the win for USJ with five saves and nine goals allowed.
 
The Blue Jays netted six straight goals to start the game, the first goal of the game coming just 13 seconds into play. After the visitors' sixth score, Castleton netted back-to-back goals—both of which came from the stick of Nalette. Weller assisted on Nalette's first score, while Kimura assisted on his second. The Blue Jays added another goal before Janaro scored an impressive transition goal, spinning around a defender and shooting in traffic to make it 7-3. The gap stretched to 9-3 with less than two minutes to play before halftime, but a late goal by Kimura made it 9-4 heading into the break.
 
St. Joseph's struck first in the third quarter to make it 10-4, but Castleton halved the lead with three straight goals. Sarro netted his first goal to start the run, before Meczywor took a feed from Kimura and buried it on the man-up opportunity. Sarro then found twine again to make it 10-7, scoring a man-up for the Spartans. The Blue Jays held firm, however, scoring back-to-back goals to push the lead back to five, 12-7. Esposito then notched a goal for the Spartans to make it 12-8 heading into the final 15 minutes.
 
The Blue Jays potted consecutive scores once again, taking a 14-8 lead midway through the final 15, before Kimura scored for Castleton with 4:21 to play on the man-advantage. Neither team scored over the final four minutes, ending the game 14-9.
 
Castleton returns to action for second game of a four-game homestand Tuesday afternoon at 4 p.m. to take on SUNY Potsdam.