The Castleton men’s lacrosse team used an early 9-1 first quarter lead to earn a convincing 19-3 North Atlantic Conference (NAC) victory Saturday, April 18 at Johnson State College. With the win, the Spartans move to 9-5 overall and 7-0 in the NAC while the Badgers drop to 3-7 on the year and 2-5 in the conference.

The Badgers used two goals from Andrew Neddo and one from Nate Plocharczyk while the Spartans saw four goals from Zach Davidson to lead the offense for Castleton.

Davidson scored three times in the game’s first four minutes, before Andrew Neddo’s goal at 7:22 cut the Badger deficit to 3-1. Siegel and Zach Devoid pushed it to 5-1 and Castleton added four goals in the last four minutes of the period for a 9-1 lead after one quarter.

Nikolas Rancourt and Evan Tucker stretched it to 11-1 in the opening two minutes of the second and the Spartans extended their advantage to 14-2 at the half.

Taylor Swarter led off the third with a goal at the nine-minute mark and scored another, along with Nicholas Romeo in the period. Romeo and Drew Wood added goals in the fourth as Castleton earned the 16-goal victory.

The Spartans outshot the Badgers 51-11 and won 17 of 25 faceoffs while picking up 36 ground balls to the Badgers’ 29.

Senior Eric Horsfield improved his career record to 18-7 by allowing three goals and making five saves. Johnson’s Jay Palmisano took the loss as he allowed 19 goals while making 18 saves.

Johnson returns to action on Tuesday afternoon when it hosts Lyndon State for its senior game  at 3:30p while the Spartans return to action tomorrow at 12 pm when they conclude NAC play by hosting Lyndon.