DANBURY, Conn. – The Vermont State University Castleton men's lacrosse team dropped a Little East Conference tilt to pre-season favorite WestConn on Saturday afternoon 17-5 on the road.
 
The Spartans (1-8, 0-2 LEC) were outshot 45-15 on goal by WestConn (6-4, 1-1 LEC), but the Spartan penalty kill unit did its job by holding off on all three man-down opportunities. The power-play unit was firing as well with a 2-for-2 day on the man-up. WestConn won 18-of-24 face-offs and had a 43-29 edge in ground balls.
 
Cam Frankenhoff tallied a pair of goals for the Spartan attack with Preston Kozlowski, Ethan Esposito and Hunter Sarro netting one goal each. Casey Meczywor had an assist and four ground balls. Zac Smith and Chase Strychaluk each racked up 13 saves in the contest, both playing just over 25 minutes in the contest.
 
The Wolves were led by a four-goal day from Tyler Starrett and three goals and an assist from Tristan McMahon. Jon Russack-Baker had seven ground balls thanks to 11 face-off wins. Brendan Grove earned the win with six first-half saves before departing.
 
WestConn opened the afternoon with four unanswered goals before Frankenhoff's man-up tally made it 4-1 with 4:10 left in the first quarter. That proved to be Castleton's only score of the half as WestConn led 9-1 at halftime.
 
After the Wolves scored to open the third quarter, Frankenhoff found the twine again with his second of the day to make it 10-2. Two more goals by WestConn pushed the lead to double digits, but Esposito got the Spartans back on the board with 4:45 to go in the third. WestConn tacked on one more before the end of the quarter for a 13-3 lead through three.
 
The Wolves added two more for a 15-3 edge before Kozlowsi scored his goal, and Sarro tallied the Spartans' final score of the game with 2:52 to play.
 
VTSU Castleton is back in action on Tuesday night at 4 p.m. when it hosts Russell Sage College at Dave Wolk Stadium.