RUTLAND, Vt. – Castleton fell behind 2-0 in the opening period of play and was never able to recover, as the 11th-ranked UMass-Boston Beacons defeated the Spartans 5-1 in New England Hockey Conference action this evening at Spartan Arena.

Will Laking scored the lone Spartan goal, while Corey Sikich and Ryan Smith tallied assists. Matt Lemire led the Beacon attack with three points from three assists, while Albee Daley provided two goals. Castleton was outshot in the contest 29-23, as they fell to 0-3-1 overall and 0-2-1 in conference play. UMass-Boston, meanwhile, captured their third straight victory to start the year while also notching the program's first NEHC win.

The Beacons wasted little time to go in front as Mike Miller netted his second score of the season just 3:07 into play to hand the away side an early 1-0 lead. Frankie DeAugustine fired a shot from the point that Brody Wagner easily knocked away, but Miller cleaned up the rebound to put UMass-Boston in front by one. 

Just over five minutes later, the Spartans nearly found an equalizer when Laking's shot from the crease ricocheted off the post, but the rebound attempt slid to a UMB player and was cleared from play. 

The Beacons capped off the first period scoring with 3:41 left in the frame, as Derek Colucci found the back of the net for the third time in as many games. Gabe Chuckran stole the puck in the offensive zone on a failed Castleton clearance attempt before dishing it off to Colucci, who finished it just inside the far post to send the visitors into the first intermission with a 3-0 lead. 

The away side was back at it again just 53 seconds into the middle frame with their third score of the contest. Drew Gannon and Lemire received assists on the play, as Daley's attempt from the crease deflected off Wagner and into the back of the net, making it 3-0 in favor of UMass-Boston.

The Spartans had a golden opportunity to get on the scoreboard with just under nine minutes left in the second. On a two-on-one break, Laking passed the puck across the face of the net to Bart Moran, who rifled a shot on target. However, Billy Faust came up huge for the Beacons, knocking the puck in the air before securing it for a faceoff to maintain the three-goal advantage.

UMass-Boston continued to fire on all cylinders in the final frame, as the nation's 11th ranked squad began the third with two goals in the opening seven minutes of play to extend its lead to 5-0. Colin Larkin began the scoring in the frame when he finished a shot in the crease off a feed from Lemire at the 5:22 mark before Daley notched his second score of the day on a short-handed attempt just over a minute later to give the away side a five-goal advantage.

Laking was able to pull one back for the Spartans with 11:32 left to play when his shot from the crease beat Faust on a power play opportunity, but it proved to be too little too late, as the Spartans were defeated by UMB, 5-1.

In his fourth career start in net, Wagner turned in a solid performance, producing 24 saves in the losing effort. Faust, meanwhile, improved to 3-0 on the year after stopping 22 of the 23 shots that he faced with a .956 save percentage. 

Castleton returns to action tomorrow afternoon at 4 pm when it hosts the No. 6 Babson Beavers in NEHC action at Spartan Arena.