BUZZARDS BAY, Mass. – The Castleton University men's lacrosse team saw its season come to a close on Friday night, falling 26-11 to Massachusetts Maritime Academy in Little East Conference action.
 
The Spartans conclude 2023 with a 4-13 record while Mass. Maritime advances to the LEC Tournament with an 8-6 mark. The Buccaneers outshot Castleton 69-35 with a 43-20 margin on goal. The hosts also won 25-of-41 face-offs and scored twice on the man-advantage. Both teams had 21 successful clears.
 
Chris LaBonte wrapped up his Spartan career with his third consecutive hat-trick and his fifth-straight multi-point game. He potted three goals with two assists for a five-point night. Dawson Nalette had a hat-trick in his final game as well, while Casey Meczywor added a goal and two assists for a three-point night. Ethan Esposito assisted twice and four others scored for the Spartans. Dylan Davis had six ground balls to go with a goal. Christopher Dindino made seven saves in 37 minutes before giving way to Conor McWeeny, who made four stops in 11 minutes. Zac Smith closed the game in goal with six saves in 12 minutes. Dindino finished the season with 261 saves, good for third-most in a single season in program history.
 
Mitchell Maida posted a five-goal, three-assist line for eight points on the night with teammate Jack Iverson adding six points on four goals and two assists. Brian Rosher had 11 ground balls and won 12-of-34 face-offs. Leo Allgaier caused six turnovers. John Aidonidis stopped eight shots in 52 minutes for the win.
 
The Buccaneers scored twice to start the game before Hunter Sarro scored for Castleton to cut into the lead. Three more goals extended the gap before Liam Evarts and Nalette scored back-to-back goals for a 5-3 score. MMA scored four times over the final two-plus minutes of the quarter to lead 9-3 after 15 minutes. The lead stretched to 11-3 with a pair of second-quarter goals before Cam Frankenhoff snapped the skid. Another two goals by MMA gave the Bucs a 13-4 edge but Davis scored seven seconds after an opposing goal to offset the score. The final two minutes were wild once again, with the teams combining for four goals in that span. After Davis' score, MMA scored twice and LaBonte scored for the Spartans.
 
Coming out of the half trailing 15-6, the Spartans allowed two goals before LaBonte rallied the Spartans with back-to-back tallies less than two minutes apart. A 6-0 run by MMA put the score at 23-8. Meczywor and Nalette—twice—were the Spartans' final goal scorers.