CASTLETON, Vt. – The Vermont State University Castleton men's soccer program's nine seniors brought plenty of energy in Sunday's non-conference match against Colby-Sawyer, but the effort fell short in a 3-2 loss to the Chargers.
Charlie Cisneros made the most of his Senior Day, taking six shots and connecting on the Spartans' (4-11-1) first goal. Adolphe Alfani buried his third score of the fall as Ayoob Musanovic was credited with assists on both second-half strikes. JP Maul swiped away two Colby-Sawyer (3-10-4) attempts in his fifth complete game of the 2023 campaign.
Eight seniors appeared in the starting lineup with the exception being Andres Soto-Burgos who played the entirety of Saturday's contest. Parker Scholl and Kevan Flanagan made their first career starts while Liam Wilson made his first start this season.
After a quick tally by the Chargers' Mateo Siguenza, the Spartans delivered a wave of offense resulting in Musanovic and Tanner Curtis sending on-target tries. The visitors added another goal by way of David Herrera in the 22nd minute, but VTSU Castleton took an 8-1 advantage on shots for the rest of the half.
Persistence paid off in the second stanza when Musanovic hit Cisneros on a cross as the Leesburg, Va. product headed the ball into the twine. The Spartans found paydirt once again just minutes later when Alfani settled a pass by Musanovic and sent the equalizer barreling past the keeper.
The squads began to go drive-for-drive in search of the go-ahead score. The Chargers found it when Kaden Lewis ran under a booming kick, beat one defender, then launched a dart from well outside the box. Toby Ritzkowski took a strong shot that Alex Gomez-Agudelo saved as Matt Spiller had an attempt get blocked as Colby-Sawyer held onto the 3-2 edge to come away victorious.
The Spartans make their final appearance at Dave Wolk Stadium on Tuesday, October 24 in a Little East Conference contest against Plymouth State. Kickoff is set for 4 p.m.
