Boston, MA-The Castleton State College women's ice hockey team fell 4-2 on the road to UMass-Boston, falling to 2-4-3 (1-2-3 ECAC East) on the seasonn. Freshman forward Rachel Sousa tallied a career-high three points with a goal and two assists to lead the 4-4-0 (3-3-0 ECAC East) Beacons.
Sousa put UMass Boston on the board when senior defenseman Rose Devlin found her at 13:23 of the opening period and she took the puck from around the backside of the net and deposited it into the right side of the net for her fifth goal of the season and a 1-0 edge. Junior forward Maria Guanci took a feed from senior forward Katherine Wall and got just enough of her shot to squeak it between the legs of Castleton goaltender, Vanessa Carter at 4:41 of the second period for her first goal of the campaign and a 2-0 Beacons' lead.
Senior forward Steph Purinton pulled the Spartans to within 2-1 when junior forward Katelyn Greene and freshman defenseman Charl May combined to find her at 11:13 of the middle period for her third goal of the season. UMass Boston responded right away when Sousa and sophomore forward Maria Nasta fed sophomore forward Katelyn Corsino for her first goal of the season, just 1:39 later, for a 3-1 lead at 12:52 of the second stanza. The trio struck again when Sousa and Corsino set up Nasta for her team-leading ninth goal of the year and a 4-1 UMB advantage with 16:29 gone in the second period.
Freshman blueliner Courtney Leavitt netted the lone goal of the third period, with sophomore forward Adrianna Riggio assisting, to cut the deficit to 4-2 for Castleton at 15:37, but it would be as close as it would get.
Junior goaltender Jessica Sams stopped 25 shots to improve to a perfect 3-0-0 on the season for the Beacons, while the senior Carter made 25 saves for the Spartans.
UMass Boston will be in action again after the New Year when it hosts State University of New York at Cortland in the first round of the First Annual Women's Ice Hockey Codfish Bowl on Saturday, January 5 at 3:00 pm. Castleton will play again on December 13 at Plymouth State University at 6:00 pm in Plymouth, NH.
