Castleton Set to Face Keene St. in NCAAs
from press release
CASTLETON, Vt. - The Castleton State College men's
lacrosse team will travel to Keene State College Wednesday
afternoon for the first round of the NCAA Division III National
Tournament at 4:00 p.m. The Spartans are making their first-ever
appearance in the tournament, thanks to an 11-5 win over six-time
defending North Atlantic Conference (NAC) Champion in the NAC
Final.
Castleton enters the tournament riding a 10-game winning
streak.
On the season, the Spartans were led by Samuel Bailey (Hartford,
VT) with 59 points on 26 goals and 33 assists. Michael Martinez
(Barrington, IL) leads Castleton with 42, and has now scored a
program-record 135 through 65 career games.
On the face-offs, junior Craig MacDerment (Clifton Park, N.Y.) has
a .745 percentage winning 231-of-310 battles, ranking third in the
nation. MacDerment also ranks seventh in the country, grabbing 8.81
ground balls per contest.
Defensively, the Spartans are led by freshman Evan Cassidy (South
Burlington, VT) with 29 caused turnovers. Rick is second on the
team with 25.
In net, sophomore David DeGhetto (Clifton, N.J.) is 11-5 on the
season with a .584 save percentage, a 7.92 goals against average
and 164 saves on the year.
Riding a nine-game winning streak, Keene State improved to 12-5 on
the season with a 14-10 win over Eastern Connecticut in the Little
East Conference Final.
Keene State got six goals from tournament MVP Griffin Meehan
(Simsbury, Conn.) and overcame the adversity of losing top goalie
junior Alec Corliss (Waltham, Mass.) midway in the third quarter to
defeat the rival Warriors for the LEC Crown. Corliss, who had made
10 saves, several on point-blank shots, went down following a
collision at the side of the net at the 8:30 mark of the
third-quarter. Nursing a slim 10-8 lead at the time, the Owls
rallied behind their fallen goalie.
Freshman Jonathan Roderick (Plaistow, N.H.) had three goals, Jette
had two and senior Jamie LeSage (Exeter, N.H.), sophomore J.T.
Galloway (Simsbury, Conn.), and Dill each scored a goal.
On the season, the Owls are led by Meehan's school-record 66 goals
and 97 points. The sophomore is also first on the team in assists,
with 31, just three away from Joe Branciforte's record of 34 set
back in 2003.
KSC is also paced by attackers Matt Schairer (Wrentham, Mass.) and
Taylor Jette (Simsbury, Conn.). Shairer has 73 points on 52 goals
and 21 assists in his first season for the Owls, while Jette has 34
goals and 18 assists for 52 points in his freshman campaign.
On face-offs, the LEC Champs have basically split time with senior
Jamie LeSage (Exeter, N.H.) and junior Michael Araujo
(Southborough, Mass.) doing the work inside the trenches. LeSage
has a .582 percentage on 117-of-201 attempts, while Araujo has won
103-of-193.
Keene State is led defensively by seniors Kyle Barnett
(Londonderry, N.H.) and Easton Kezer (Derry, N.H.). Kezer, who
leads the Owls in caused turnovers with 21, is followed by
Barnett's 20. Barnett also leads the team in groundballs with
90.
In goal, freshman Jason Lesser (Brewster, N.Y.) has split time this
season with Corliss, playing in 13 games and making seven starts.
Lesser has a record of 6-3 with a .531 save percentage, an 8.22
goals against average and 78 saves on the season.
