CASTLETON, Vt. – Jake Tietgens tallied his second hat trick of the season with three goals in the opening 25:04 of play to lead the second-seeded Castleton Spartans to a 4-1 victory over the No. 6 Maine-Farmington Beavers in the North Atlantic Conference Semifinals this afternoon at Spartan Stadium.

Tietgens opened the contest with a goal just six minutes in before tacking on two more over the next 18 minutes of play. With the hat trick, Tietgens has now tallied 15 goals this year, the most scored by a Castleton player since Luke Laroche's 22 in 2003. 

Blake Hart added one goal and one assist, while Solo Felekeni and Paul Phillips recorded assists of their own to cement the squad's spot in Saturday's NAC Championship. With the victory, the Spartans improve to 14-5-1 overall, tied for the second most wins in a season in program history. The Beavers, meanwhile, finish their season at 6-10-3 on the year. 

Castleton wasted little time to make its mark in the contest, as Tietgens scored in the sixth minute of play to hand the hosts an early 1-0 lead. Phillips had the ball near midfield and lofted a pass towards goal that Tietgens headed home to give the Spartans a one-goal advantage. 

Just over seven minutes later, Tietgens netted his second score of the day to double Castleton's lead. After the Spartans received a penalty, Tietgens stepped up to the spot and buried a shot into the bottom left corner of the net, putting the hosts in front 2-0. 

In the 20th minute of play, Hart finished a shot bar-down for the squad's third goal of the day before Tietgens completed his hat trick off a give-and-go with Hart just five minutes later to give Castleton a 4-0 advantage heading into the break. 

The Beavers got one back in the 61st minute of play when a cross in the box deflected off a Spartan defender and into the back of the net, but it was too little too late, as the Spartans claimed a 4-1 victory to advance to their first conference championship game since 2011.

Amir Pasic picked up his 13th victory of the season after producing one save in 80 minutes of play, while Dan Palker relieved the NAC Defensive Player of the Year in the final ten minutes of action for his fifth appearance of the year. Matt Wilson, meanwhile, suffered the loss for UMF after making four saves in 76 minutes of play.

The contest was a physical affair, as it featured 23 total fouls and seven cards. The Spartans turned in a dominating offensive performance, outshooting the opposition 18-3 and holding the edge in corner kicks 3-0.

Castleton is back in action on Saturday when it faces the winner of the other NAC Semifinal – No. 1 Thomas versus No. 5 NEC – in the conference championship. The highest remaining seed will host the title game at a time to be announced.