Rutland, Vt. - The Castleton Spartans women's hockey team (6-2-1 overall, 4-2-1 in the ECAC East) scored late in the third period to earn a 1-0 victory over the Pilgrims of New England College (3-2-3, 2-3-2) in ECAC-East action Friday afternoon at Spartan Arena. 

Spartan net-minder Paula Stephens earned her third shutout of the season and had a total of 17 saves in the game while Anna Daniels scored her team-leading seventh goal of the season. 

The Spartans supplied offensive pressure from the first drop of the puck, firing shot after shot on the Pilgrims goal. With 9:25 left in the first, NEC was whistled for two penalties, giving the Spartans a 5-on-3 power play. Goaltender Lauren Hopps came through in a big way, turning away all of the Spartans attempts during the advantage. Despite outshooting the Pilgrims 12-7 in the first period, the Spartans came away empty and the score stood at 1-1 after the first. 

Castleton maintained their hold on the game, constantly pressuring the Pilgrims after the first intermission. The Spartans held their opponents without a shot on goal for the first 12 minutes of the second period, outshooting them 18-6 in the frame, but still couldn't crack Hopps. 

It took until the 14:32 mark of the third period for the Spartans to finally grab the 1-0 lead. After a misguided Pilgrims pass, the freshman Daniels skated into the offensive zone and slid the puck to Nicoline Jensen. Jensen drew the lone Pilgrims defender and then back-handed the puck to Daniels who tipped it in over the pads of sprawled out Hopps for the score.

The Spartans held on tight to their slim lead, hunkering down on defense, and protecting their goalkeeper Paula Stephens. Castleton's puck control prevented the Pilgrims of getting a shot off in the last two minutes of play. 

With the victory, the Spartans improve upon their historic start, moving to a program-best 6-2-1 (4-2-1 ECAC-East). Castleton will host Middlebury tomorrow at 2 p.m. at Spartan Arena.