April 28, 2007

Castleton heads to fourth-straight NAC final, defeats Daniel Webster 15-9

Castleton, VT-Steve Gerding had a game-high six points on four goals and two assists to lead the Castleton State College men’s lacrosse team to their fourth-straight conference final. The Spartans defeated Daniel Webster 15-9 in NAC semifinal action.

The Spartans raced out to a 4-0 lead after the first quarter, and scored six unanswered before the Eagles got on the board. Gerding tallied the final three goals of the first quarter, then sent home his fourth to open the scoring in the second.

Daniel Webster would not go away, as they out-scored their hosts 5-4 in the second quarter to cut the lead three at halftime. Bryan Abrahamson got the Eagles on the board with 12:55 remaining in the first half, and Brandon Bell tallied three more before halftime.

Castleton proved to be too much in the second-half, out-scoring the Eagles 7-4 over the final 30 minutes.

Bell finished the afternoon with four goals and one assist to lead the 7-5 Eagles. Ryan Manning notched two goals and one assist, while Colby Field added one goal and three assists.

Adam McKellar stopped 14 shots for Daniel Webster, while Michael Mamunes made 16 saves to earn the win.

The Spartans received another big effort from senior Matt VanDerKar. The nation’s leader in ground balls per game and face-off percentage scored two goals, had one assist, 23 ground balls and won 22 out of 26 face-offs for the game.

Adam Rosati scored four goals for 9-4 Castleton. Jake Rick and Robbie Scanlon each added a pair of goals and Devon Wood one to round out the Spartan scoring.

Castleton will take on the winner of #1 Mount Ida v #4 Thomas on Saturday, May 5 at 1:00 pm. The game will be hosted at the highest remaining seed. [Game Stats]

***Spartans***