Worcester, MA-The Castleton State College women's ice hockey team received a two-goal effort from Page O'Neill but could not hang on in a 5-3 ECAC East loss at Holy Cross.

O'Neill opened the scoring just six seconds into the game as she took a Sarah Pearson assist, and beat Crusader goalie Lindsey Atkinson for the early 1-0 lead. The Crusaders evened the score just over three minutes later as Smantha Murphy tallied her third goal of the season.

Holy Cross scored the lone goal of the second period, just two minutes in as Kathryn Kelley scored her third of the season to give the Crusaders a slim 2-1 lead.

The third period saw the action pick up as the two teams combined for five goals over the final 20 minutes. The Crusaders picked up a short-handed goal just 34 seconds into the third period as Stephanie Couzin fed Samantha Rush for her fifth goal of the season. With just under 15 minutes remaining Holy Cross again scored short-handed, this time it was Rush feeding Lisa Wilson for her seventh goal of the season. Castleton captain, Adrianna Riggio brought Castleton to within two goals as she tallied her fifth of the season off assists from Amy Costa and Steph Purinton. O'Neill struck for her second, just four minutes later as Riggio provided the assist to bring Castleton to within one. The Spartans could not find the equalizer, however as Katelyn Doherty picked up her first of the season with 46 seconds remaining to seal the win.

Vanessa Carter stopped 45 shots in the loss for the 3-6-3 (2-4-3 ECAC East) Spartans. Castleton is back in action on Tuesday, January 15 when they host non-conference foe, Amherst at 7:00 pm.