Men’s lax season comes to a tough close
The Castleton men’s lacrosse team’s season has come to an end.
The Spartans wrapped up their 2025 season on Friday, April 25, in a tight contest against fellow Little East Conference member Eastern Connecticut State University, which ended in an 11-8 loss for the Spartans on home turf.
Prior to the game, Castleton celebrated four graduating seniors in front of a packed home crowd: Liam Lovering, Ethan Esposito, Hunter Sarro, and Zac Smith.
Despite a challenging season and a 3-12 overall record, the Spartans showed resilience and growth throughout their 15 games.
Their first win came in game six of the season, on the road at Russell Sage College in a non-conference game. A group effort led by junior, Cater Frankenhoff’s five-goal game, led to a dominant 17-7 victory to get the Spartans in the win column for the first time.
But, the group struggled a bit with consistency and their ability to string wins together.
Following their first win, there were back-to-back losses against Nichols College and Western Connecticut State University at home, before an exciting 17-15 win over Salem State University for the team’s first victory in conference play.
The Spartans remained on the road, traveling to Plymouth State University and looking for consecutive wins for the first time this year.
Despite getting out to a quick start, they would go on to lose the game by a score of 10-3 at the hands of the Panthers.
But they bounced right back, with a dominant 12-4 victory at home in an exciting contest against LEC rivals from the University of Southern Maine. The Frankenhoff brothers led the way, combining for five of the Spartans’ 12 goals to seal the win for the Spartans at Dave Wolk Stadium in front of the home crowd.
The key conference win was followed by four straight losses. A close battle with Keene State saw the Spartans lose 11-5 on the road, a game that wouldn’t have been that close without the 27-save performance from the goaltender, Zac Smith. Loses against Massachusetts Maritime Academy and UMass Boston followed, and then the senior day loss to Eastern Connecticut State saw the 2025 season come to a close.
Although their record wasn’t where they would have liked it to be, the program looks to have an exciting future, with the potential to return 17 players to the roster for the 2026 season.
The Spartans finished seventh in the LEC and concluded their season with an overall record of 3-12, having gone 2-6 in conference play.
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