Rutland, Vt. - The Castleton women's hockey team skated hard, but fell to No. 4 Norwich on Saturday afternoon at Spartan Arena by a score of 8-2. 

Allie Howard and Samantha Pion each scored for the Spartans, while Jillayne DeBus led the Cadets with two goals and three assists.

In the first period, the Cadets jumped out to a 2-0 lead. Just over eight minutes into the game, DeBus cracked the scoring seal with a goal from the slot. After a save by Paula Stephens, the puck skittered in front of the Castleton goal before DeBus wristed it into the back of the net over the recovering goaltender.

Brittany Sharman added a Norwich tally when she got a clean look from the slot. The junior lifted the puck over the blocker of Stephens with just nine seconds remaining in the period to give the Cadets a 2-0 lead heading into the locker room for the intermission. 

In the second period, the Cadets struck again before the Spartans got on the board. Tori Charron notched her 19th goal of the season at the 7:26 mark extending the Cadets' lead to 3-0. 10:17 later, Allie Howard stole an errant pass in the Spartans' offensive zone and beat Norwich goaltender Loren Carrier to bring the Spartans back to within two.

Norwich was able to convert twice in the final three minutes of the second period, and took a 5-1 lead into the locker room for the second intermission.

In the third, the Cadets notched another two goals, extending their lead to 7-1 before the Spartans' Samantha Pion ripped a slap shot from the right point and beat the goalie to bring the score to 7-2. Hanna Martini and Samantha McNeill earned assists on the play.

The Cadets finished the game's scoring by adding an eighth goal with 5:43 remaining. Tyne Gove scored off a pass from Renee Lortie to make the score 8-2, which is how the game would finish.

Carrier finished the game with 22 saves and earned her ninth win of the year. Stephens finished with 15 turn-aways in the first two periods before being pulled in favor of freshman Jess Cameron, who stopped eight shots in the third period.

Castleton drops to 8-8-3, 5-4-3 in the ECAC East. They will take on another ranked opponent next weekend when they face No. 9 Manhattanville at 4 p.m. at Spartan Arena.