DANBURY, Conn. - Senior attack Eric Caldwell (East Moriches, N.Y.) netted a game-high four goals and dished out an assist to lead the Western Connecticut State University men's lacrosse team to a thrilling 9-7 victory over visiting archrival Eastern Connecticut in a Little East Conference contest Tuesday night at the Westside Athletic Complex. With the win, the Colonials improved to 2-1 overall and 2-1 in league play, while the Warriors dropped to 4-3 and 1-2.

Sophomore midfielder Stephen Cicchetti (Lindenhurst, N.Y.) tacked on a hat trick and a helper, while rookie middie Benjamin Hawthorne (Manorville, N.Y.) chipped in with a goal and two assists for the hosts. 

Rookie Camden Brown (Southington, Conn.) paced the visitors with two goals, while senior Tyler Stein (Milford, Conn.) contributed a scoring strike to go along with a pair of assists. WestConn junior goalkeeper Perry Cassidy (East Setauket, N.Y.) was stellar as he improved to 2-1 with a 16-save outing. Graduate student Jack Farrell (Stratford, Conn.) fell to 4-3 and turned aside eight shots for Eastern. 

The Colonials held a 44-30 advantage in shots while the squads finished neck-and-neck in the remainder of the statistics columns. 

The Warriors hit the twine less midway thru the first quarter when senior Kyle Cardoza (Waterford, Conn.) found the back of the net, unassisted. 

WestConn would counter with a 3-0 run. Hawthorne capped the spurt when he took a feed from Caldwell and fired a shot in with just two seconds remaining in the opening stanza. Eastern answered with a pair before Caldwell canned his second goal of the contest, giving the hosts a 4-3 lead at the break.

With WestConn ahead 7-5 early in the fourth, Eastern senior Jake Liebowitz (Trumbull, Conn.) trimmed the deficit to one off a nifty fast break pass from Stein. 

Rookie attack Trey Aronow (Holbrook, N.Y) then faked a shot, dodged around a defender and whipped the rock in from close range to put the hosts back up by two. However, Brown took a cross-crease feed from freshman Zacharie Appolon (Stamford, Conn.) and sliced it to a one-goal WestConn advantage with 2:07 remaining. Caldwell added an insurance marker and the Colonials were able to play keep away in the waning seconds. 

WestConn returns to action at conference foe UMass-Boston on April 22.