GORHAM, Maine – The Castleton University men's lacrosse team earned a crucial conference victory on Saturday afternoon, defeating University of Southern Maine 12-10 in road Little East Conference play.
Though Castleton (2-12, 2-4 LEC) trailed largely on the stat sheet, the Spartans led on the scoreboard the entirety of the game. They led 6-1 at halftime and 10-3 after three quarters, building a sufficient lead to hold off a late USM (3-8, 1-1 LEC) comeback attempt. USM outshot Castleton 47-43, had a 30-17 edge in ground balls and won 20-of-25 face-offs, but Castleton went 24-of-29 on the clear and committed only 17 turnovers in the win.
Chris LaBonte racked up four points on two goals and two assists, while
Ethan Esposito netted a hat-trick for the Spartan attack.
Dawson Nalette had three helpers in the game, while
Griffin Weller had a goal and two assists.
Hunter Sarro,
Collin Johnson and
Cam Frankenhoff had two scores apiece.
Matt Mumford had a team-high three ground balls, while
Luc Issa and
Chris Wilk had two caused turnovers apiece. Wilk stopped 16 shots in the win for Castleton in goal.
Schuyler Wetmore did most of USM's damage on offense, scoring four times with two assists. Tucker Nussinow added three goals and an assist. Chris Sourgiadakis won 18-of-22 faceoffs, collecting seven ground balls in the process. Nathan Plourde made 13 saves in the loss.
Esposito scored the first two goals of the game for Castleton, both of which came in the first quarter. He cracked open the scoring 4:30 into the game, and struck again with just 13 seconds to play in the opening frame for a 2-0 Castleton edge.
Frankenhoff and Sarro pushed the lead to 4-0 in the second quarter before Wetmore got USM on the board with just less than five minutes to play before halftime. Castleton snuck in two more goals before the break, with Johnson scoring on the man-up opportunity before LaBonte got his first of the game to make it 6-1 heading into the second half.
Johnson, Frankenhoff and LaBonte rattled off consecutive scores to make it 9-1 late in the third quarter, but Nussinow broke the streak for USM and made it 9-2. Weller's goal with 3:39 left in the third quarter made it 10-2 Spartans, but a late goal by USM made it 10-3 heading to the final 15 minutes.
Southern Maine put together four unanswered goals to start the fourth quarter to close the gap to three goals, 10-7. Esposito notched his third goal of the day to stop the bleeding, before Wetmore drew USM within three again, 11-8. Sarro gave Castleton more breathing room with 4:00 to play, scoring to make it 12-8. The Huskies struck twice more before time ran out, but the Spartan cushion remained with a 12-10 final score in favor of the Spartans.
Castleton is back in action Tuesday night at UMass Boston at 7:30 p.m.
