Spartans Capture Third Straight, Beat SUNY Canton 14-6

CASTLETON, Vt. – Castleton led just 5-4 at the break, but outscored the opposition 9-2 in the final two periods of play to capture the squad's third straight win with a 14-6 victory over the SUNY Canton Kangaroos in non-conference action at Spartan Stadium.

The Spartans turned in an impressive display, holding the edge in shots (41-24) and groundballs (45-26) to move over .500 at 4-3 overall for the first time this season. The Kangaroos, meanwhile, drop to 3-4 on the year after having their three-game unbeaten run snapped.

Kyle Lutinski paced the attack with four points from two goals and two assists to go along with two
groundballs and one caused turnover. Zach Devoid and Tom Pardew notched two goals apiece, whereas Peyton Faasse collected eight groundballs, won 11 of his 13 face offs and forced four turnovers.

Kyle Smith led the SUNY Canton charge with three points (2g, 1a) and four groundballs. Trenton Yule and Chris Gamble added two points (1g, 1a) each, while Zack Opiela forced a game-high five turnovers with two groundballs.

In net, Peter Latulippe delivered another strong outing with tens saves and a 62.5 save percentage to pick up his fourth win of the year. His counterpart, Kody Kocsis suffered the loss, despite producing 19 saves over the course of the game.

Devoid opened the game's scoring with a goal at the 9:52 mark in the first before the Kangaroos responded with back-to-back scores to put the away side in front 2-1. Lutinski notched his first of the day with 22 seconds left in the first quarter to bring the game back to level terms at two.

At the 13:49 mark in the second, Taylor Swarter gave the Spartans their first lead of the game with a nifty back-handed effort, followed by scores from Devoid and Nik Rancourt to push the hosts' advantage to three. In the final two minutes of the first half, SUNY Canton answered with a pair of goals to cut their deficit back to one heading into the break.

Following a shaky first half, Castleton delivered, arguably, its best half of the season following intermission. Pardew opened his scoring account with a man-down goal with 8:44 left in the third, and Lutinski followed with his second of the game just five minutes later. Pardew and Jason Sedell scored consecutive goals within a span of 14 seconds to close out a four-goal third and give the hosts a 9-4 lead.

The Spartans maintained that momentum in the fourth, tacking on five more scores while limiting the opposition to just two en route to a 14-6 victory.
 
Castleton returns to action this Saturday at 11:30 am when the squad travels to Maine to face the Maine-Farmington Beavers in North Atlantic Conference play at Prescott Field.