CASTLETON, Vt. – The Vermont State University Castleton men's lacrosse team was unable to overcome New England College with a late push on Wednesday afternoon, falling 24-17.

The Basics
• Final Score: New England College 24, VTSU Castleton 17
• Location: Dave Wolk Stadium – Castleton, Vt.
• Records: NEC 2-0, Castleton 0-2

How it Happened
Castleton opened the scoring on the day as Braydon Goddard recorded the first goal of his collegiate career with an unassisted tally. It took nearly three minutes for the visitors to knot the game at 1-1. The pair would trade scores once more before the Spartans strung three goals together to go up 5-2 with five minutes remaining in the first quarter. Goals were scored by Carter Frankenhoff (two goals), Liam Evarts, and Matt Gregoire. The Pilgrims answered with three goals of their own to tie the game, 5-5, heading into the second quarter.

It was Cam Frankenhoff that opened the second stanza with a pair of goals to put the hosts up 7-5. NEC went on a 12-goal scoring streak that carried over into the second half before coming to an end at 10:38 in the third frame when Carter Frankenhoff was able to score, despite being a man-down due to a Cam Frankenhoff delay of game call, making it 17-8.

There were two more goals scored by the opposition before Evarts got his second tally of the day, helped along by Ethan Esposito, to cut the deficit to 10 goals (19-9). Henri Pfeifle found the back of the goal with 3:15 remaining in the quarter before goals by Goddard, Carter Frankenhoff, and Preston Kozlowski pulled the Spartans within eight goals heading into the final stanza.

The visitors outscored Castleton 4-2 to own a 24-14 advantage heading into the final three minutes of the contest. Despite being down, the Spartans never gave up, recording the game's last three goals, two from Cam Frankenhoff and one from Kozlowski, to bring the team within seven goals as time ran out, 24-17.

Top Performers
Once again, the Frankenhoff brothers proved to be strong on offense, each posting five goals apiece. Cam Frankenhoff even pitched in two assists to finish the day with seven points.

Also having multi-goal days were Kozlowski, Evarts, and Goddard, as they all recorded two, while Gregoire pitched in one.

Strongest in the defensive end was Asa Forbes with his six caused turnovers and four ground balls.

Time in the crease was split between Zac Smith and Finn Maniaci, with the former appearing for 33 minutes and the latter for 27 minutes. Smith finished the day with 17 saves, while Maniaci collected seven.

What's Next
Castleton will hit the road on Saturday as it travels to Utica University for a 3 p.m. nonconference meeting with the Pioneers.