NORTHFIELD, Vt. – Castleton's dream season came to a halt Saturday afternoon in the ECAC Women's Division III East Hockey Championship as the Spartans fell to No. 3 Norwich 4-0 at Kreitzberg Arena. Paula Stephens recorded 31 saves in the contest but it was not enough to stave off the offensive-minded Cadets from capturing their third-straight title.

Tori Charron and Emily MacKinnon each provided two goals for Norwich, while Adelle Murphy and KaKa McComber each recorded an assist.

Stephens was under pressure for much of the opening stanza and proved to be every bit up to the task, recording 11 saves, including a trio with Castleton on the penalty kill. The Spartans had their best chance at a first period goal inside of one minute remaining when Taylor Steadman snapped a shot wide from the right side, and Nicoline Jensen won a faceoff and put one into the chest of Norwich netminder Taylor Fairchild.

The Cadets broke through for two goals in rapid succession midway through the second period as Charron gathered a turnover at her own blue line and skated in uncontested for goal number 26 of the season. Nine seconds later MacKinnon put home a rebound off her own miss to make it 2-0 with the assist going to McComber.

A late Castleton power play produced some worthy chances for the Spartans, the best of which came off the blade of Sabrina Hosner, but her first attempt was turned away by Fairchild and her second was blocked to preserve the two-goal deficit.

Early in the third Steadman had a clean look at Fairchild, but the goalie was able to turn it away and the rebound opportunity was never realized. From then on it was all Norwich.

MacKinnon pushed the lead to 3-0 at the 5:05 mark in the third, slipping one past Stephens off a faceoff in the Spartan zone and Charron put the game away for good with her second marker with 11 minutes remaining.

Fairchild earned the win in net for the Cadets by making 13 saves in 46:27 before giving way to Loren Carrier. Carrier stopped both shots she faced in 13:33.

Jensen and Steadman were both named to the ECAC East All-Tournament team also with defenseman Samantha Pion.

Castleton's best season in history ends at 16-10-2, while the Cadets skate on at 25-3-0.