RUTLAND, Vt. - It wasn't easy, but the Spartans' two-goal second period proved to be enough as they beat New England College 2-1 in their ECAC East quarterfinal game at Spartan Arena on Saturday evening.

Castleton earned its second straight trip to the conference semifinals and improved to 18-6-2 on the season with the victory. They now NEC finishes its season with a 9-12-5 mark overall.

Both teams came out aggressive in the first period. The Spartans put 13 shots on junior Shawn Sirman (Blezard Valley, Ont.) and the Pilgrims forced freshman Thomas Shelley (Waterford, Ont.) to make six saves but neither offense was able to break through.

Castleton finally converted 10:29 into the second period. Junior Brad Barber (Nepean, Ont.) notched his first career goal on a quick slap shot from the right point that went right over Sirman's shoulder and into the back of the net for the 1-0 lead.

The Spartans upped their advantage to 2-0 with just 57 seconds left in the second on a nice goal by junior Dan Bell (Victoria, B.C.). Defenseman Ryan Delorme (Kanata, Ont.) ripped a slap shot from the left point and puck came of Sirman's pads right to Bell on the right side of the net and he put it home for the two-goal margin.

NEC cut the lead in half just 4:10 into the second period on a goal by Andre Stalberg (Alingsas, Swe.). He scored a wicked slap shot from the left point that got past Shelley.

The freshman netminder responded by stonewalling the Pilgrims over the game's final 16 minutes to earn his fifth victory of the season. He finished with 17 saves in net while Sirman recorded 35 stops between the pipes for NEC.

Castleton advances to next Friday's ECAC East semifinal at Norwich where they will take on Skidmore at 6 p.m.