CASTLETON, Vt. – After the Plattsburgh State men's lacrosse team outscored the Spartans 7-2 in the first half thanks to three goals from sophomore attacker Dylan Ruland (Medford, N.Y. / Patchogue-Medford), the Cardinals went on to win 11-6 over Vermont State University (VTSU) Castleton on Saturday afternoon in non-conference action. D. Ruland finished with six points including a career-high four goals and two assists.

Senior midfielder Donald Woods (Rocky Point, N.Y. / Rocky Point) and sophomore midfielder/attacker Jamie Gipe (Baldwinsville, N.Y. / C. W. Baker) both finished with four points, a new career-high for Gipe as both netted two goals and two assists. Senior midfielder Ely Bruhns (Clifton Park, N.Y. / Shenendehowa) and sophomore attacker Peter Urso (Bay Shore, N.Y. / Bay Shore) both recorded two points as Bruhns tallied a goal and an assist and Urso two assists. Sophomore attacker Justin Ortiz (Massapequa, N.Y. / Massapequa) scored his first career goal while first-years Ethan Francey (Canton, N.Y. / Canton) and Brayden Shattuck (Queensbury, N.Y. / Queensbury) contributed a goal and an assist respectively. Senior face-off specialist Jimbo Farrelly (West Nyack, N.Y. / Clarkstown South) had a career-high 19 faceoff wins and a career-high 17 ground balls. Defensively, sophomore defender Fynn Whitlock (Middlebury, Vt. / Middlebury Union) had a game-high five caused turnovers to go with six ground balls.

For the Spartans, Cam Frankemhoff and Liam Evarts both led the team with two goals while Carter Frankenhoff and Jordan Damske also recorded goals. Preston Kozlowski had the lone assist on the day for Castleton.

The Cardinals dominated the shot battle 50-25 and faceoffs, winning 19 to the Spartans' 2 while also holding a 37-27 advantage in ground balls. On clears, Plattsburgh was nearly perfect, going 16-18 compared to Castleton's 18-29. The Cardinals went 2-6 on extra-man opportunities while Castleton went scoreless in two chances.

Plattsburgh State rises to 3-3 and is back in action on Wednesday, Mar. 26 when they host the Pilgrims of New England College for a 4 p.m. faceoff. VTSU-Castleton falls to 0-5 and is back in action on Wednesday, Mar. 19 at Russell Sage College for a 4 p.m. start time.

While it was a low-scoring first quarter, the Cardinals dominated the shot battle 17-4 to take a 3-0 lead into the second quarter. It was D. Ruland who got the scoring started, tallying the Cardinals' first two goals. It didn't take long, as a few minutes into the opening quarter, Bruhns found D. Ruland at the top of the attacking zone and he let the shot rip for the opening score. Neither team was able to score for the next 10 plus minutes until two penalties put the Cardinals up a man and D. Ruland ripped yet another shot past the goalie. Moments later it was Woods who tacked on a late goal for the Cardinals as they took a 3-0 lead into the second quarter.

After Jamie Gipe scored the first goal of the second quarter at the 13:27 mark, Castleton finally got on the board as the Spartans registered back-to-back goals within a minute of each other and made the score 4-2 Cardinals halfway through the quarter. However, the Cardinals countered with three straight goals as Woods tacked on another goal followed by D. Ruland's third goal of the game and Francey's first as Plattsburgh took a 7-2 lead into halftime.

The third quarter didn't see much action as both teams netted one goal a piece, starting with a goal from the Spartans at the 13:44 mark, followed by a goal from Plattsburgh. It was D. Ruland again as he tallied his fourth goal of the game and his second man-up goal of the game and made the score 8-3 going into the fourth and final quarter.

The Cardinals struck first in the fourth with a goal at the 12:42 mark from Jamie Gipe, assisted by Woods that extended their lead to 9-3. The Spartans still had some life, scoring back-to-back goals to come within four with less than seven minutes remaining in the quarter. The Cardinals' defense was strong the rest of the way, only letting up one more goal with just under two minutes to go followed by a late goal from Ortiz that secured the 11-6 victory.

Sophomore goalie Cole Orehosky (Hauppauge, N.Y. / Hauppauge) made four saves in 60 minutes of action and earned the win for Plattsburgh while Zac Smith made 11 saves in the loss for Castleton in over 58 minutes of action.