CASTLETON, Vt. – Castleton came up short in a hard-fought battle at Spartan Stadium on Tuesday night, losing to New England College (NEC) in North Atlantic Conferece (NAC) action 2-0.

With the loss, Castleton drops to 5-7-1 overall and 3-2-1 in the conference. The Pilgrims improved to 7-5-1 (3-1-1 NAC) after Emmanuel Arteaga and Sebastian Andersson tallied one goal apiece in the shutout victory.

In the third minute, NEC had the only real scoring opportunity of the first half when Arteaga received the ball at the top of the box, turned and fired a strike on goal that Castleton's keeper Dan Palker barely deflected out of play.

The first forty-five minutes ended in a deadlock, as neither squad was able gain offensive momentum and capitalize on any opportunities in the final third of play.

After the break, the Pilgrims counter attack created an early scoring opportunity when Julian Yourawski received the ball in the box, but Castleton's keeper easily saved his attempt.

NEC's attack continued to pressure the Spartans and in the 62nd minute, the Pilgrims struck first. Rizy Misiri dribbled the ball into the box and delivered a pass to the far wing to Arteaga. The senior forward gathered the ball and slotted a shot into the bottom corner of the net to make it 1-0 in favor of the away side.

Just ten minutes later, NEC doubled its lead courtesy of Andersson's ninth goal of the season. Yourawski passed the ball to Andersson on the far wing, who slipped it past Palker to extend the Pilgrims advantage to two goals.

In the 86th minute, Castleton had its first real chance of the game when Paul Phillips sent in a shot from 20 yards out, but NEC's keeper Mark Nowak was there to make the save.

The Spartans outshot their opponents 12-9 with two shots on target, but were unable to produce any goals.

Palker made his 13th start of the season for Castleton, notching four saves en route to his seventh loss of 2014. Nowak tallied two saves for the Pilgrims, registering his fifth win and third shutout of this campaign.

The Spartans return to action this Friday when they travel to Poultney, Vt. to face Green Mountain in a NAC match beginning at 3:30 pm.