GORHAM, Maine – Cam Frankenhoff scored with less than two minutes to play to lift the Vermont State University Castleton men's lacrosse team to an 11-10 victory in a Little East Conference battle over Southern Maine on Saturday afternoon.
 
The Spartans (3-10, 2-3 LEC) led 9-5 through three quarters, but a furious comeback by the Huskies (5-8, 1-3 LEC) saw the game sitting in a 10-10 deadlock with 6:21 to play. The Spartan defense buckled down from there, allowing only one shot on goal in the final six-plus minutes. The strong defense allowed Frankenhoff to tally the game-winning goal with 1:58 remaining. Frankenhoff got the ball of the left side and juked a defender before unleashing a bouncing shot on the run that beat the USM netminder.
 
Frankenhoff finished with a pair of goals in the contest, while Carter Frankenhoff had a hat-trick. Hunter Sarro netted two goals with two assists and Preston Kozlowski dished out two assists in addition to a goal. Casey Meczywor, Ethan Esposito and Jordan Damske added goals of their own. Chase Strychaluk had seven ground balls in addition to his 16 saves in the victory.
 
Southern Maine's offense came largely from the stick of Nick James, who had five goals and two assists. Aman Zunser scored twice and three others had a single goal. Addison Dietz made 12 saves and had six ground balls.
 
The Spartans had a 41-36 edge in shot attempts, but the Huskies led 26-23 in shots on goal in the game. VTSU Castleton grabbed a 39-34 edge in ground balls and won 12-of-23 face-offs for a slight edge in possessions.
 
USM led 2-0 through the game's first 12 minutes, but Meczywor broke into the score column late in the first quarter to halve the deficit to 2-1 at the end of 15 minutes. Damske leveled the score at 2-2 early in the second before two more USM goals put the gap back to two goals, 4-2. Esposito and Sarro both scored in the final three minutes of the opening half to send the game into the break level at 4-4.
 
The Huskies again struck first out of halftime, pulling ahead 5-4. The Spartan offense found its stride with around six minutes remaining, scoring five times in less than six minutes to end the frame. Carter Frankenhoff started the onslaught with consecutive goals just 67 seconds apart before Kozlowski made it 7-5 Spartans. Sarro's second of the day made it 8-5 and Cam Frankenhoff extended the lead to 9-5 going to the fourth.
 
Four unanswered goals by the Huskies to start the fourth quarter tied the game at 9-9, but Carter Frankenhoff scored at the midway mark of the last to give the Spartans a 10-9 edge. The lead was short-lived, as USM answered just over a minute later to tie the game at 10-10. After more than four minutes of scoreless action and with time winding down, Cam Frankenhoff went to work and put the Spartans ahead 11-10 with 1:58 on the clock. USM had two more shot attempts down the stretch, but both went wide of the cage as Castleton hung on for the pivotal LEC victory.
 
VTSU Castleton is back in action on Wednesday night at 7 p.m. when it hosts Keene State in the home finale at Dave Wolk Stadium.