Green Mountain College reeled off its first victory of the season on Wednesday with a tightly contested 6-4 North Atlantic Conference win over Johnson State College at Spartan Stadium.

Green Mountain (1-4, 1-0 NAC) was led by Nick Parsons' two goal, one assist effort and a hattrick from Richard Aberle, Jr. Nate Laymon scored his first goal of the year and added 12 groundballs, while the defense was anchored by Brett Baldwin and his four caused turnovers. Blake Hay was an impressive 8-of-11 at the faceoff dot.

Johnson (1-3, 0-2 NAC) received two goals from Andrew Neddo and one each from Randy Strand and Alan Bickings. Neddo, Ryan Beaudry and Alex Hoehn each had three groundballs, while Phillip Perkins caused two turnovers on defense.

The Badgers put themselves on the scoring ledger first at the 13:34 mark of the first quarter when Strand fired his first of the season over the right shoulder of the Eagles' goalie Carl Diethelm.

Parsons responded over five minutes later with an equalizer bringing the score to 1-1 which would hold through to the end of the quarter.

The Eagles scored the lone goal of the second stanza during a great defensive effort from both squads. Aberle, Jr.'s first goal of the game gave the Eagles a 2-1 lead at the 6:05 mark and put an end to the scoring, sending the hosts into halftime with the slim one-goal lead.

Parson's second of the game and ninth of the season opened the scoring in the second half and gave the Eagles a 3-1 lead. Johnson responded to restore the one-goal deficit when Nate Plocharczyk fed Neddo for his first of the game with 9:41 to play in the third.

With the Eagles' on a man up situation, Aberle, Jr. took advantage when he fired home a feed from Parsons and put the Eagles back up by two at 4-2.

The fourth quarter witnessed the most scoring as Johnson began to press looking to even up the score, while Green Mountain selectively utilized a counter attack. Neddo narrowed the score to 4-3 with his second of the game just over a minute into the fourth quarter.

Laymon took advantage of a crease in the defense after clearing the ball when he streaked past his defender and fired a shot that beat the Badgers' Jay Palmisano high.

Bickings scored his third of the year with 2:49 left to get the Badgers back to within one at 5-4. Then with the visitors pressing to try to knot the score, GMC's Aberle, Jr. took an open lane on the right side and beat the goalie with a low bouncer that found the back of the net and clinched the win for the Eagles.

Johnson earned a slim advantage in shots with a 41-40 edge while GMC held a distinct advantage on the ground with 34 groundballs to 20 for the Badgers. 

Diethelm posted his first career victory in net for the Eagles making eight saves, while Palmisano was saddled with the loss despite making 16 stops.

"I'm very proud of our team as a whole, especially on the defensive end of the field which started from Carl, going through the defense, the midfield and our riding from the attack position" said Lange. "This is a big step toward completing our team goals for the season and we will continue to work hard to ensure they are met."

GMC will host Maine Maritime at 8 p.m. at Spartan Stadium on Friday night for its next contest while Johnson will travel to Becker on Saturday for a non-conference tilt at 2 p.m.