CASTLETON, Vt. – The Vermont State University Castleton men's lacrosse team battled against the Little East Conference's top team on Wednesday night, falling 20-7 to Keene State at Dave Wolk Stadium.
 
The Owls sit at 5-0 in the LEC and 6-5 on the season while VTSU Castleton is now 3-11 overall and 2-4 in league play. The Owls peppered 39 shots on goal and had a 46-18 edge in ground balls in the contest. The Spartan power-play unit was working well in the contest, going 2-for-4 on the night.
 
Hunter Sarro and Cam Frankenhoff scored two goals apiece with Sarro adding an assist as well. Casey Meczywor, Carter Frankenhoff and Ethan Esposito added goals for the Spartans. Chase Strychaluk stopped 16 shots in 52 minutes and had four ground balls.
 
The Owls had seven players score two or more goals, led by four scores from Colby Quiet and three from Andrew Miller. Quiet had 10 ground balls and Gabe Pereira added 12 ground balls thanks to a 15-for-19 night on face-offs. Colby Cala forced three turnovers and Charlie Giuliotti made three saves to earn the win in goal.
 
Keene State scored the first two goals of the night before Cam Frankenhoff halved the gap back to 2-1. The Owls then rattled off eight goals in a row for a 10-1 lead midway through the second quarter. Carter Frankenhoff snapped the streak with a goal of his own but Keene tacked on one more to lead 11-2 at halftime.
 
After the lead grew to 12-2 early in the third quarter, Castleton scored four goals in a row to narrow the deficit to 12-6 just 17 seconds into the final frame. The Owls piled on from there, scoring eight of the game's final nine goals to close out the victory, 20-7.
 
VTSU Castleton is on the road on Monday at UMass Boston at 7 p.m.