HENNIKER, N.H. – The Castleton University men's lacrosse team took the field against a familiar foe Saturday afternoon, going head-to-head with former NAC rival New England College in non-conference action. NEC came out on top in a tight contest, 10-8, behind a decisive fourth quarter.
The game was tied through 45 minutes, but the Pilgrims (2-7) netted three unanswered goals to start the fourth quarter. Castleton (0-9) answered back with a late goal, but it was too late to complete the comeback as NEC hung on for the victory. The Pilgrims had a 54-45 edge in shots, and a 22-19 edge in shots on goal. Castleton only turned the ball over 20 times compared to NEC's 25, and both teams had similar numbers clearing the ball. The Pilgrims controlled the face-off dot and the ground ball battle, winning 17-of-21 face-offs and collecting a 42-28 edge in ground balls. Four of the Pilgrims' goals came man-up.
Casey Meczywor had a four-point game for the Spartans, scoring two goals and adding two assists.
Chris LaBonte had three scores and four ground balls, while
Sean Kimura added three assists on the day.
Griffin Weller,
Collin Johnson and
Hunter Sarro also had goals, and
Ethan Esposito had an assist.
Zac Smith stopped 12 shots in the contest, notching a save percentage of 54.5 percent.
Thomas Norton notched five points on three goals and two assists for the Pilgrims, while Sam Crary had three goals and a helper and Lucas Ferreira had three goals. Josh Owen added two assists. Quint Barsh took every face-off for NEC, winning 17 and nabbing 13 ground balls. Owen had five ground balls alongside Andrew Noorigian. Michael Catalano made 11 saves in the win for NEC.
Castleton jumped out to a 2-0 lead early in the game on goals by Meczywor and Sarro, and held that lead until the waning minutes of the first quarter until NEC netted three goals in a 77-second span to take a 3-2 lead into the second frame.
The NEC edge grew to 4-2 after another Pilgrim goal, but Castleton responded with back-to-back scores—both from the stick of LaBonte—to level the score at 4-4. Crary and Meczywor traded goals to a 5-5 score, but a late goal by NEC sent the hosts into the halftime break leading 6-5.
Neither side scored in the third quarter for nearly seven minutes, but NEC added a goal to its lead to move up 7-5 before LaBonte and Weller tallied goals to make it 7-7 through three quarters. Weller's goal came with just six seconds left in the frame to level the score.
NEC scored three unanswered goals for a 10-7 lead late, but Johnson found twine with 40 seconds to play for a 10-8 score. The Spartan comeback ended there, as NEC hung on for the victory.
Castleton is off until next Saturday, April 9, when it hosts Salem State at 1 p.m. at Dave Wolk Stadium.
