CASTLETON, Vt. – The Spartans led 3-1 midway through the first quarter, but the Norwich University men's lacrosse defense locked down from there, outscoring the hosts 8-2 the rest of the contest as the Cadets earned a 9-5 victory on Wednesday evening in Spartan Stadium. 

Castleton (7-5) actually finished the game with a 37-36 shot advantage, but only put 17 of them on net and turned it over 23 times in dropping to 7-5 overall. Norwich (4-7) put 19 of their 36 shots on target and picked up more ground balls (38-32) and had 17 caused turnovers to improve to 4-7 on the year. 

Sophomore Sam Siegel led the scoring effort with one goal and two assists while Louis Alhage dished off a pair of assists with three ground balls and two caused turnovers. Peyton Faasse added four caused turnovers and four ground balls while Isaac Devoid went 5-for-5 on faceoffs. 

Senior Ryan McCarthy (Medford, Mass.) paced the Cadet offense with one goal, three assists and three ground balls while senior Matt Flaherty (Portland, Maine) added three assists, two goals and two ground balls. Sophomore Zach Adler (Stratham, N.H.) was solid on defense with five ground balls and three caused turnovers. 

Jason Sedell gave Castleton a 1-0 lead at the 12:18 mark, before Flaherty tied it up less than 30 seconds later. Siegel made it 2-0 with 9:46 left and just over a minute later Kyle Lutinski extended the lead to 3-1. Following another Norwich goal, Micky Prozinski scored for the 4-2 advantage with 5:50 left in the period. 

The Cadets added a goal with 4:01 left in the first quarter and then scored the equalizer with 11:09 remaining in the second. They also limited the Spartans to six shots in holding them scoreless the rest of the half. 

Sophomore Josh Jenkins (Centennial, Colo.) made it 5-4 in favor of Norwich early in the third and the visitors added two more goals before Ryan Stone scored with 2:15 left to trim the deficit to 7-5. The Cadets scored the only two goals of the fourth, despite being outshot 9-5 in the period, to earn the 9-5 win. 

Norwich's Ian Kriger (Burlintgon, Mass.) was solid in net, making 12 saves while allowing five goals for the win. Peter Latulippe started the contest and stopped five shots and gave up four goals, before being relieved for Romello Lindsey. Lindsey took the loss as he allowed five goals and made six saves in the second half.

The Cadets return to action on Saturday, April 16 as they host Saint Joseph's College of Maine in the 4 p.m. Great Northeast Athletic Conference tilt.