Rutland, VT-The Castleton State College women's ice hockey team opened up its ECAC East schedule with a 1-1 tie with Saint Michael's College.

The Spartans got on the board first just under five minutes into the second period when freshman Courtney Leavitt scored her first collegiate goal assisted by Cassandra Koehne and captain Adrianna Riggio.

Just 30 seconds later the Purple Knights would send home the equalizer on Emily Paquin's second goal of the season assisted by Meghan Sweezey and Desiree Biron.

Both defenses and goalies were solid the rest of the way to preserve the tie. Saint Michael's Melanie Cullen ended the night with 25 saves while Vanessa Carter stopped 35 for Castleton.

Neither team could use the power-play to its advantage as Saint Michael's finished 0-6 and Castleton 0-9.

Castleton returns to the Rutland Regional Fieldhouse tomorrow afternoon at 3:00 pm when they take on Norwich University in ECAC East Action. St. Mike's is off until November 30 when they host UMass-Boston in a 7:00 pm conference match-up.