DANBURY, Conn. – The Castleton University men's lacrosse team battled inclement weather and a tough Western Connecticut State team on Saturday afternoon, falling to WestConn in the Little East Conference-opener by a final score of 25-6.
 
The Spartans (0-7, 0-1 LEC) hung tight in the first quarter, but WestConn (7-1, 1-0 LEC) took over from there. WestConn outshot Castleton 87-23, putting 47 shots on goal to Castleton's nine. The Spartans cleared the ball well, converting 28-of-36, but WestConn controlled the face-off dot, 25-9, and the ground-ball battle, 53-22.
 
Sean Kimura and Chris LaBonte had a pair of goals each to lead the Spartan offense. Griffin Weller and Hunter Sarro added Castleton's other scores, while Ryan Palmisano had an assist. Luc Issa collected four ground balls and caused two turnovers, while Palmisano added three ground balls. Jay Venezia also had three ground balls. Chris Wilk made 14 saves in the contest, with Zac Smith making seven and Myles French making one.
 
Trey Aronow had five goals and five assists for WestConn, while Benjamin Hawthorne had two goals and seven helpers. Julian Duque had five goals and one assist. Jonathon Russack-Baker won 19-of-28 face-offs and grabbed 15 ground balls for WestConn. Brendan Grove had just one save but earned the win in 42 minutes of action while allowing five goals.
 
WestConn jumped out to an early 3-0 lead before LaBonte cut it to 3-1 with 3:52 remaining in the opening quarter. The contest was then halted for 40 minutes due to severe weather in the area. When the teams returned to action, Castleton utilized a quick spurt to even things up at 3-3. The hosts then retaliated with a four-goal run to seize a 7-3 lead to end the lengthy first quarter.
 
WestConn continued to build its lead in the second, outscoring the Spartans by a 7-1 margin, good for a 14-4 advantage at the break. LaBonte scored Castleton's only goal in the second frame, opening the scoring in the quarter to make it 7-4 before WestConn rattled off seven unanswered.
 
Kimura scored the first goal of the third quarter, but WestConn again scored seven straight goals to close the frame with a 21-5 lead. The hosts tacked on two more to start the fourth up 23-5 before Kimura's second of the day stopped the run. Two late goals by WestConn capped the evening at 25-6.
 
Castleton returns to action Wednesday night at Dave Wolk Stadium for the Connor Roberts Memorial Game against Norwich University. Opening face-off is slated for 7 p.m.