CASTLETON, Vt. – The Castleton University men's lacrosse team won its second game in a row on Saturday, topping New England College 8-7 thanks to a last-minute goal by Chris LaBonte.
 
Tied 7-7 with just under two minutes to play, Castleton called a timeout to draw up a play for its final possession. After working the ball around the perimeter, LaBonte drove to the right side and pulled the trigger on a shot that beat the NEC goalie up high, putting the Spartans ahead with 51 seconds to play. NEC won the ensuing face-off, but quickly turned the ball over to allow Castleton to kill valuable time off the clock and preserve the lead to the final horn.
 
The Spartans improve to 3-6 with the win while NEC drops to 0-9 on the season. Shots were nearly even, with Castleton holding a 36-35 edge overall and 21-19 edge on goal. NEC committed 23 turnovers to Castleton's 22. The Spartans were 17-of-20 on the clear whereas the Pilgrims went 18-of-24. Both teams had 28 ground balls while Castleton won more face-offs, 11-8.
 
Sean Kimura had a five-point day, scoring twice and adding three assists. Ethan Esposito also scored twice while Casey Meczywor and Ian Edgar had a goal and an assist each. LaBonte and Xavier McKenna scored as well for Castleton with Hunter Sarro and Liam Evarts adding assists. Meczywor had a team-high six ground balls and three caused turnovers, with Cam Frankenhoff adding five ground balls. LaBonte won 10-of-17 face-offs. Christopher Dindino continued his strong play between the pipes, stopping 12 out of the 19 shots he faced in the victory.
 
Devon Saeger scored twice for NEC, with Sam Crary adding a goal and two assists in the contest. Thomas Norton had a goal and an assist. Jackson Kain had six ground balls and four caused turnovers and Thomas Doe added five ground balls. Connor Almstrom made 13 saves in the loss.
 
NEC opened the scoring just over five minutes into the game for a 1-0 lead, but Castleton rattled off four straight goals to end the first quarter on top 4-1. Meczywor tied the score at 1-1 before McKenna gave Castleton its first lead of the day less than a minute later. Kimura then scored consecutive goals for Castleton to push the lead to 4-1.
 
Edgar's goal midway through the second quarter was the only tally of the frame by either team, giving the Spartans a 5-1 halftime lead at Dave Wolk Stadium.
 
The Pilgrims regrouped at halftime and came out firing, scoring four times in the first six-plus minutes of the third quarter. Saegar began the string of NEC goals before Doe, Joey Olsen and Crary got in on the action. The goal by Crary knotted the score at 5-5. Esposito broke the deadlock with a goal on an assist from Sarro, but Matt Daley scored to tie the score at 6-6. Esposito struck again with just 38 seconds left in the third quarter, giving the Spartans a one-goal lead heading to the final 15 minutes.
 
The lead stood strong until the final two minutes, when Norton knotted the game at 7-7 with just 1:57 to play. Castleton won the ensuing face-off and pushed into the offensive zone before the Spartans took a timeout. The play ended up with the ball in LaBonte's stick, and the senior converted with a laser of a goal to give Castleton a lead it was able to hang onto through the final horn.
 
The Spartans are back in action Thursday night at Norwich University for the Connor Roberts Memorial Game at 7 p.m.