CASTLETON, Vt. – The Vermont State University Castleton men's lacrosse team battled closely with Utica University on Saturday afternoon at Dave Wolk Stadium before ultimately falling short, 8-6.
 
The Spartans (1-2) were outshot 44-34 by the Pioneers (2-3) with a 22-13 margin in shots on goal favoring Utica. VTSU Castleton went 12-of-16 on the clear and Utica was 18-of-26 clearing. Ground balls were nearly even, with the Pioneers holding a narrow edge, 36-34. Face-offs were close as well, with the Spartans landing an 8-7 edge.
 
Hunter Sarro and Carter Frankenhoff had two goals apiece for Castleton while Jordan Damske notched two points thanks to a goal and an assist. Cam Frankenhoff added a goal and Casey Meczywor, Ian Edgar and Ethan Esposito had assists. Meczywor led the way with six ground balls and Gabe Rubio caused a pair of turnovers for the Spartans. Hollis Jones was 8-of-14 on face-offs. Zac Smith tallied 14 saves between the pipes, stopping 66.7 percent of the shots he faced in the contest.
 
Sam Serrano had a big game for Utica on offense, collecting five points thanks to two goals and three assists. Ryan Considine netted a hat-trick and Noah Erickson had two goals. Michael Mecca had five ground balls and Ethan Brown forced four turnovers. Patrick Oswald was the winner in goal with seven saves.
 
The game went back-and-forth for all 60 minutes, though the Spartans never led. Utica got ahead early with two goals in the first five minutes, but VTSU Castleton scored next when Sarro scored to halve the lead to 2-1. A late first-period tally by Considine—his second of the quarter—made it 3-1 Pioneers after 15 minutes.
 
The Spartan defense was pristine in the second quarter, holding Utica without a shot on goal during the stretch and allowing the offense to go to work. Cam Frankenhoff scored just 22 seconds in the quarter to make it a one-score game, and Damske got on the board less than five minutes later to level the score at 3-3.
 
Coming out of halftime with the score still deadlocked at 3-3, Serrano pushed Utica ahead with his first of the day but Sarro answered five minutes later for the Spartans to make it a 4-4 contest midway through the third. Serrano scored again and Erickson pushed Utica ahead 6-4 with less than four minutes remaining in the quarter, but Carter Frankenhoff scored with just over a minute to go to keep it at one goal going into the final quarter, 6-5.
 
Utica padded its lead to two less than a minute into the last before both sides went scoreless for the next nine minutes. It was Utica again that broke the scoreless stretch, pushing the gap to 8-5 with six minutes to play. Carter Frankenhoff scored the final Spartan goal to make it 8-6, but with only a minute to play the Pioneers were able to stave off the Spartans.
 
VTSU Castleton is back in action Tuesday night at 4 p.m. when it hosts SUNY-Potsdam at Dave Wolk Stadium.