RUTLAND, Vt. – The Castleton women's hockey team held off a late comeback attempt by Franklin Pierce in their home opener at Spartan Arena on Friday afternoon, winning by a final score of 3-2.
The victory moves the Spartans to 5-0-0 for the first time in program history, while placing them at 3-0-0 in New England Hockey Conference play. Franklin Pierce falls to 3-2-0 overall and 1-2-0 in NEHC action with the loss.
Sam Pion scored a pair of goals for the Spartans, while Hannah Rose recorded the eventual game-winning goal for Castleton to go along with an assist in the contest. Jess Cameron turned in another stellar performance, stopping 31 out of the 33 shots that she faced.
Castleton got on the board late in the first period, when Pion forced a turnover in her offensive zone and ripped a shot over the shoulder of the Ravens' goalie to give her squad a 1-0 lead. The Spartans held an 11-6 shot advantage in the first period, controlling play for most of the opening frame.
Pion would strike again for the Spartans early in the second period after taking a pass from Anna Daniels who collected a rebound from a shot by Rose and firing it through a crowd of defenders, just inside the left post to double the Castleton lead to 2-0. The Spartans would have a chance to extend the lead to three goals with just over three minutes to play in the period, when Lisa Kilroy and Ally Brandland got out on a two-on-one break, however Franklin Pierce netminder Shannon O'Neil made back-to-back saves to keep the game at 2-0 heading into the final stanza.
In the last period of play, the Ravens made a strong push, getting on the board just eight minutes in to cut the Spartan lead in half. Hayley Arnold was the one who halved the Castleton lead, finding the back of the net on assists from Bryana Harron and Karsyn Baker to make it a 2-1 game in favor of the home squad.
On the ensuing faceoff, Rachel Bombardier won the draw to Rose, who skated in and snuck a shot past O'Neil to make it a 3-1 Spartan lead just six seconds after the Franklin Pierce score. With time winding down, the Ravens pulled their goalie to gain an extra attacker, a strategy that would result in a goal that cut the Spartan lead to 3-2. With 1:12 remaining in the game, Colleen Doucette drove a shot past Cameron to draw the visitors within one goal on an assist from Baker, however the Spartans would hold off the Franklin Pierce attack until the final horn to earn the victory.
Cameron picked up her fifth win of the season for Castleton, recording 31 saves on 33 shots, good for a .939 save percentage in the game. O'Neil picked up her second loss of the season, stopping 22 out of 25 shots faced in the defeat.
Franklin Pierce held a 33-25 advantage in shots in the contest, as well as a 4-3 advantage in power-play opportunities, converting one of their four chances. The Spartans were unsuccessful on all three power-play attempts. Face-offs were nearly even in the contest, with Franklin Pierce holding a slight edge, 28-26.
Castleton is back in action tomorrow afternoon, hosting the Nichols Bison at Spartan Arena at 1:00 p.m.
