CASTINE, Maine – Castleton dealt Maine Maritime Academy men's lacrosse their first conference loss of the season, despite a late game surge from the Mariners, who fell 10-8 to the Spartans on Saturday afternoon at Ritchie Field. 

The Mariners jumped out to an early 2-0 lead at 6:59 in the first half, following goals from Nicholas Betti (Upper Saddle River, N.J.) and A.J. Larrabee (Farmington, Maine) on a pair of assists from Mike Fuller (Portland, Maine). Castleton answered with back-to-back goals from Taylor Swarter and Micky Prozinski. Peter Moore (Scarborough, Maine) put Maine Maritime ahead 3-2 on a goal with 24 seconds remaining in the first quarter.

Castleton held the Mariners scoreless in the second half, while tacking on four goals to take a 6-3 lead into the halftime.

The Spartans opened up the second half with a pair of goals, but the Mariners found their momentum as Betti scored with four seconds remaining in the third quarter on an assist from Bronson Guimond (Portland, Maine).

Betti closed the gap to 8-5 with a goal at 13:51 remaining in the fourth quarter, but the Spartans answered back on a goal from Zach Davidson to stretch the lead once again, to four goals (9-5). 

Guimond and Moore teamed up for three-straight goals to make it 9-8 with 4:44 remaining in the game, but Louis Alhage added the final goal for the Spartans, who hung on to claim the 10-8 win. 

Moore ended the afternoon with the hat trick and an assist to lead the Mariner attack, while Guimond contributed a team-high three assists and a goal, and Betti picked up a hat trick. Tim Grant (East Northport, N.Y.) and Jack Tragert (Naples, Maine) scooped up a game-high nine ground balls each, with Tragert going 11-of-17 on the face-off and Grant adding a team-leading, three caused turnovers.

Swarter led all scorers with four goals and three assists and a team-high three caused turnovers, while Davidson added a hat trick of his own for Castleton. Davidson and Ryan Crowningshield led the Spartans with four ground balls each.

James Wilgus (Phippsburg, Maine) was strong in net, stopping 11 shots for the Mariners while Sam Polas also stopped 11 shots in net for the Spartans. 

In a ceremony prior to the game the Mariners honored their six seniors, Nicholas Betti, Evan Carrier (Lewiston, Maine), Bronson Guimond, Jack Tragert, Aj Larrabee, and Ian Larcom (Middletown, R.I.).

Click HERE to see more photos from Senior Day.

The Mariners fall to 4-6 on the season and 4-1 in the NAC, while the Spartans improve to 7-5 overall and hang on to a perfect 5-0 record in the conference.

Maine Maritime will return to action tomorrow afternoon when they host Johnson State at 2:30 p.m.