CASTLETON, Vt. – The Castleton University men's lacrosse team opened its home slate with a bang on Monday night, winning 6-4 against SUNY-Delhi at Dave Wolk Stadium.
Despite being out-shot 27-23 (16-12 on goal), the Spartans compiled four first-half goals to take a halftime lead and never look back. A strong defensive effort that killed off six extra-man opportunities and resulted in 12 saves preserved the lead late in the game. Both sides committed a litany of turnovers, with Castleton having 30 and Dehli having 24. The Spartans were 14-of-24 on the clear and the Broncos converted 17-of-21.
Preston Kozlowski led Castleton with three points on a goal and two assists, while
Dawson Nalette scored twice.
Sean Kimura had a goal and an assist for a two-point night, while
Chris LaBonte and
Hunter Sarro added goals of their own.
Cam Frankenhoff tallied an assist.
Christopher Dindino amassed 12 saves in the game, stopping 75 percent of shots on goal in his first victory as a Spartan.
Carter Frankenhoff led the team with six ground balls while
Matt Mumford and LaBonte caused two turnovers each.
Benjamin Moscatiello had a four-point night on three goals and an assist, while Jagger Beachak scored the other goal for Delhi. Logan Bauer added an assist. Samuel Steng was charged with the loss, making six saves on 12 chances.
Delhi scored first in the game, striking just under five minutes into play. Beachak finished a pass from Moscatiello for the 1-0 lead. It was more than eight minutes later when Nalette scored his first of the game, knotting the score at 1-1 after an assist from
Cam Frankenhoff. Nalette scored again with just 17 seconds to play in the opening quarter to give Castleton a 2-1, taking a feed from Kozlowski behind the net before scoring on a nifty move in front.
Kimura found the back of the cage less than a minute into the second quarter to extend the lead to 3-1, giving Kozlowski his second assist of the game. LaBonte then made it 4-1 with an unassisted score barely a minute later. Delhi got on the board with 1:55 to play in the opening half to stop Castleton's four-goal run, with Moscatiello scoring his first of the night to make it 4-2 at the break.
Sarro opened the second-half scoring midway through the third quarter with a goal on an assist from Kimura, but Moscatiello answered with a man-up goal four minutes later for a 5-3 score going to the final quarter.
Neither side scored for the first 11 minutes of the fourth, but Kozlowski put Castleton ahead 6-3 with a goal right on the doorstep with time winding down on the shot clock. It proved to be more than enough insurance, as Delhi managed just one more man-up goal with 12 seconds remaining as the Spartans held on for the 6-4 victory.
Castleton is back in action Wednesday night at 7 p.m. with another home game when they host Rivier at Dave Wolk Stadium.
