PLYMOUTH, N.H. – The sixth-seeded Vermont State University Castleton men's lacrosse team saw its season come to a close on Tuesday evening, falling 17-4 to third-seeded Plymouth State in the Little East Conference quarterfinals.
Jordan Damske poured in a hat-trick for the Spartans while
Ethan Esposito added a goal of his own.
Casey Meczywor dished out two assists and
Preston Kozlowski had one helper.
Jonah Janaro scooped up four ground balls and three Spartans—
Cam Frankenhoff,
Kam Strickland and
Jason Samek—had two caused turnovers each.
Chase Strychaluk stacked up 21 saves in goal for the Spartans.
Plymouth State was led by five goals from Ryan Collins and four from Crosby Fay. Brady Hunt had four assists and Aiden Renner grabbed seven ground balls. Owen McNichols made five saves in the win for the Panthers.
The Panthers had a 42-11 advantage in shots on goal, 54-23 edge in ground balls and 22-3 edge in face-off wins. The Spartans went 24-of-32 on the clear and caused 10 turnovers on defense.
The defenses were in control early, with neither side cracking the score column in the first 10 minutes of play. Plymouth State struck first with 4:57 to go in the opening quarter and added a second score just six seconds later. A third goal within a minute pushed it to 3-0 before one more goal set the score at 4-0 after the first frame.
After extending the gap to 5-0 in the second, Damske got Castleton on the board thanks to an assist by Kozlowski. Plymouth State tacked on two more before halftime to lead 7-1 at the break.
The Panthers extended the edge to 11-1 before Esposito scored with 5:20 to go in the third. Damske netted his second of the day just over a minute later to make it 11-3. Plymouth State rattled off six in a row spanning the end of the third and beginning of the fourth to grow the gap to 17-3 before Damske tallied the final marker of the evening for a 17-4 score with 1:27 remaining.
The Spartans conclude the season 3-14 overall and 2-6 in Little East Conference play, tying their highest single-season LEC win total since joining the league in 2019.
