RUTLAND, Vt. – No. 2 seeded Castleton used five different goal scorers to defeat no. 7 seeded New England College, 5-1, in the quarterfinal round of the ECAC Division III Men's East Tournament at Spartan Arena on Saturday night.

The Spartans improve to 22-3-1 overall on the season and advance to the semifinal round of the tournament for the first time since the 2006-07 season. Castleton will play no. 5 seeded Babson on Friday, March 4 at 4:00 pm or 7:00 pm in Northfield, Vt. at Norwich University. The Pilgrims' season ends at 7-17-2.

New England College struck first at 6:19 of the first period as junior defenseman Jarkko Leppanen (Tampere, Finland) fed teammate Ben Souders (Downington, Pa.) in the slot for a 1-0 lead. Souders beat freshman goaltender Erick Cinotti (Mahwah, N.J.) five-hole with a snapshot for his fifth goal of the season.

ECAC East Player of the Year Josh Harris (Torrance, Calif.) responded for Castleton at 18:13 to send both teams into the intermission tied at 1-1. Sophomore defenseman Brad Barber (Nepean, Ont.) corralled a loose puck just outside of the right faceoff circle and ripped a slapshot that was initially saved by Pilgrims goaltender Aaron Harvey (Milford, N.S.) but Harris pounced on the rebound and lit the lamp for his 15th goal of the season. Dan Bell (Victoria, B.C.) also picked up an assist on the marker.

In the second period, Chris Weiland (Royal Palm Beach, Fla.) gave the Spartans a 2-1 lead at the 1:49 mark with a tremendous individual effort. After receiving a pass up ice from teammate Cody Ayers (Colo. Springs, Colo.), Weiland deked a Pilgrims' defenseman out of position and snapped a wrist shot from the right faceoff circle over Harvey's glove into the top left corner of the net for his third goal of the season.

At 9:21, Nick Lazorko (Rockwall, Texas) pushed the lead to 3-1 and the Spartans never looked back. Sophomore forward Brett Zeggil (Pricevill, Ont.) created the scoring opportunity cycling the puck from behind the net to Colin Murray (Oshawa, Ont.) at the right faceoff circle. Then, Murray quickly dished a tape-to-tape pass to Lazorko in the slot and the freshman forward finished for his eighth tally of the season.

Justin Alonzo (San Jose, Calif.) gave Castleton a 4-1 advantage at 7:38 of third period on the power play drilling home a rebound past Harvey netting his 15th of the season.

Later in the period at 11:52, Ayers notched his eighth goal of the season and second point on the night stuffing in a loose puck that Harvey tried to cover up with his glove in the crease to make it 5-1.

Cinotti turned away 26 shots in net to improve his record to 12-1-1 on the season. Harvey made 25 saves in between the pipes for New England College.