SALEM, Mass. – The Castleton University men's lacrosse team picked up a key conference win on Saturday afternoon, coasting to an 11-4 victory over Salem State on the road.
The Spartans (4-7, 1-1 LEC) held decisive advantages in shots (48-12), shots on goal (30-9), turnovers (14-29), ground balls (45-30) and face-offs (11-6) en route to the victory. Castleton scored on 3-of-6 man-up chances and went 11-for-11 clearing the ball.
Chris LaBonte had a hat trick and tallied an assist as well, while
Casey Meczywor added four assists in the win.
Liam Evarts had two goals and a helper with
Jason Samek adding a goal and an assist as well.
Sean Kimura,
Cam Frankenhoff,
Hunter Sarro,
Dylan Davis and
Matt Gregoire also added goals, with
Jordan Damske chipping in an assist. LaBonte snagged a team-best five ground balls and won 10-of-16 face-offs on the day.
Michael Dean had five caused turnovers as Castleton tied a program record as a team with 29 caused turnovers in the game. The previous record was set nearly 10 years ago to the day when Castleton forced 29 turnovers against UMaine-Farmington on April 7, 2013.
Christopher Dindino earned the win in goal, making five stops with one goal allowed in 30 minutes of action.
Conor McWeeny and
Zac Smith both saw action in the second half, playing 15 minutes apiece.
Salem State (1-10, 0-3 LEC) was powered by two goals and an assist from Kyle Tammaro on offense. Lake Fleming and Aidan Hollingsworth had the other two Viking goals. Glen-Thanh Doan had a game-high seven ground balls and caused four turnovers for the defense. Trevor Gilligan made 19 saves in the loss.
Castleton's defense was strong from the opening face-off, keeping Salem State off the board for more than 22 minutes of play while the offense built a 6-0 lead behind the strength of six different goal scorers. LaBonte got the party started midway through the first quarter before Frankenhoff made it 2-0. Samek tallied a last-minute goal in the first quarter for a 3-0 lead through 15 minutes. Evarts then joined the action with a goal of his own before Kimura and Sarro found the back of the net just 76 seconds apart for a 6-0 lead. Hollingsworth got the Vikings on the board, but Gregoire got the goal back for Castleton to send the Spartans into halftime ahead 7-1.
The lead grew to 9-1 through three quarters after goals by LaBonte and Davis. Tammaro scored the first goal of the fourth quarter to make it 9-2, but LaBonte finished the hat-trick to make it a 10-2 game with nine minutes to play. Back-to-back Viking goals just over a minute apart put the score at 10-4 before Evarts netted the final goal of the game with 59 seconds to play.
Castleton is back in action Tuesday at Keene State at 4 p.m.
