RUTLAND, Vt. – The Castleton women's hockey team played to a 3-3 draw with Colby College in the opening round of the 2016 Rutland Herald Invitational on Saturday afternoon.

The Spartans now advance to the championship round of the tournament following a shootout in which they won 1-0 on a score by Brianna Keats. The draw puts Castleton at 10-1-2 overall on the year, while Colby moves to 2-5-2 overall.

Keats, Taylor Steadman and Sabrina Hosner each netted goals in the contest for the Spartans, while Jess Cameron stopped 43 shots in goal.

Colby got on the board first, tallying a goal at 15:43 of the first period when Carly Thomas took a pass from behind the net and buried it in close. The Spartans had plenty of looks, putting 14 shots on goal in the period, however Angelica Crites stood tall sending the Mules into the break with a 1-0 lead.

Castleton came out of the break ready to play, as Keats picked off a pass at the blue line before skating in and scoring through the five-hole on Crites to draw the game even at 1-1. Colby held a heavy shot advantage in the period, however they couldn't find a goal until late in the frame when Eleanor Knutzen found the back of the net with 42 seconds to play in the period. After the Spartans failed to clear the puck, Nikki Donato put a shot on goal that Cameron initially stopped, however Knutzen was there to put home the rebound and send the visitors into the locker room with a 2-1 lead.

Entering the final frame trailing by a goal, the Spartans picked up the offensive pressure in search of an equalizer. Castleton outshot the Mules 22-5 in the final frame, with two of those shots going for goals. Steadman opened the scoring in the third period, collecting a rebound in close and scoring top shelf to draw the game even at 2-2 with just more than 15 minutes to play. The Spartans took that momentum and continued to apply pressure before finding the back of the net once again with less than four minutes remaining. Hosner took a pass at the point from Anna Daniels and drove home a shot to give Castleton its first lead of the contest with 3:42 to play. The Mules wouldn't go away, as they buried the game-tying goal with just 50 seconds left on the clock after pulling their goalie for an extra attacker to force overtime.

In the overtime period, neither team could get much offense going, as the Mules outshot Castleton 5-3 in the five-minute period before heading to a shootout. After Cameron made a lunging save on Colby's Bella Papapetros, Keats skated in and buried the goal that sent her squad to the championship round.

Cameron now moves to 10-1-2 on the season after her 43-save performance, while Crites moves to 2-4-2 on the season after making 39 saves. Castleton dominated the face-off dot, winning 45 out of 59 draws (76%) in the game. Colby held a slight, 46-42 shot advantage in the game, while neither team could score on the power-play.

The Spartans will be back in action tomorrow, taking on the winner of the Holy Cross vs. Manhattanville game at 3:00 p.m. in the finals of the Rutland Herald Invitational.