Castorf Manufactures 100th Career Point, Scores Seven Goals in Ravens Demolition of AIC

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (March 16, 2019) – Franklin Pierce University men's lacrosse senior midfielder Jake Castorf (Holbrook, N.Y.) tallied his 100th career point and produced a career-high seven goals as the Ravens overpowered Northeast-10 Conference opponent American International 23-6 Saturday evening on Abdow Field. The win, the third straight for the Crimson and Grey improves their early season mark to 3-0, 1-0 NE10 while the Yellow Jackets remain winless at 0-8, 0-3 NE10.

Castorf's seven goals tied with Jimmy Ward for the second most during a single game when Ward tallied seven markers last on April 26, 2004, at Green Mountain. He also tied with Kevin Dargin (March 8, 2014, vs. Dominican) for the single-game total point record with nine chipping in two assists to his seven goals.

The team captain became the seventh member of the programs 100 point club achieving the feat in the first quarter when he fed sophomore midfielder Mike Alibrandi (Holliston, Mass.) for his second score of the quarter. With his nine points, Castorf (108 points) climbed Bill Paradis (103), former teammate Jack Carney (103) and Kevin Dargin (107) into fourth place on the all-time points list and trails former teammate Sean Delea (123) for the third spot.

FPU notched 23 markers. It was the second time in program annals that a team has achieved that feat. They last scored 23 goals on April 2, 2007, during a 23-4 win against Norwich. It marks the highest single-game goal total under the leadership of head coach Rick Senatore with their previous high watermark of 19 coming versus Notre Dame de Namur on March 17, 2015. The Ravens 17 goal margin of victory was also the fourth largest as a program and biggest since upending AIC 16-2 on March 24, 2017.

Freshman attack Stephen Ell (Peabody, Mass.) scored his first career goal in the first quarter and he finished with five points (four goals, one assist). Mike Alibrandi tacked on three goals and one assist while sophomore midfielder Gavon Power (Biddeford, Maine) led all players with three assists. Freshman LSM Connor Chapdelaine (Goffstown, N.H.), sophomore midfielder Thomas Wood (North Dighton, Mass.) and freshman midfielder Luke Smith (Bethany, Conn.) also racked up their first career collegiate scores as well. Chapdelaine was terrific on defense collecting three caused turnovers.

Faceoff specialist Lawrence Bastianelli-Conlon (Rocky Point, N.Y.) was 21-of-25 (84%) from the X and he scooped up a game-high 13 groundballs. Goalkeeper Justin Lorenzo (Goshen, N.Y.) earned the start in net improving to 3-0 on the year and made two saves during the first half. Senior netminder Brian Schiavi (Dracut, Mass.) came on in relief stopping one shot in the second half.

The Ravens were by far and away the more superior team totaling 64 shots to the Yellow Jacket 12. They also shagged 45 loose balls compared to 17 for AIC. FPU won the turnover battle only giving the rock away 15 times.

Rusty Stone did the heavy lifting for the hosts scoring twice. Alphonse Ferrentino fell to 0-1 in the setback making 19 saves.

Pierce began the showdown scoring five consecutive times including two early Alibrandi tallies. Stone got the Yellow Jackets on the board with 38 seconds to go in the first quarter keeping his team within four, 5-1. An unnecessary roughness call on Bastianelli-Conlon resulted in a man-advantage goal by Stephen Stratton assisted by Cam Menard which would drop the AIC deficit to 5-2, the closest they would come. An unassisted Alibrandi tally and an Alibrandi to Castorf connection reestablished the five-point Raven advantage, 7-2 with 10:52 to go until the intermission.

Menard notched back to back goals about two minutes apart making the margin three, 7-4 once again. The Crimson and Grey would outscore the home team 16-2 through the remainder of the game including a stretch from late in the second to early in the third when they scored eight straight goals to grow their modest lead into an 11 point 15-4 advantage. A Stone score stopped the bleeding a bit, but the Ravens exploded for a second spurt of eight consecutive goals to ice the game.

Franklin Pierce returns home to the friendly confines of Sodexo Field when they duel NE10 and no. 17 nationally-ranked Saint Anselm College Thursday, March 21st at 3:00 p.m.

For more information on Franklin Pierce Athletics, please visit the official website of Franklin Pierce Athletics (http://fpuravens.com). Also be sure to follow the Ravens through the Department of Athletics' official Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/FranklinPierceRavens), its YouTube channel (http://www.youtube.com/franklinpiercesports) and its Twitter feed (http://twitter.com/FPUathletics). Fans wishing to purchase Franklin Pierce men's lacrosse apparel can do so at the Department of Athletics' online store (http://fpuravens.com/store). You can also follow the men's lacrosse team on Twitter (https://twitter.com/FPUMLacrosse) and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/fpumlacrosse).