MANCHESTER, N.H. – Castleton's women's hockey team suffered its first New England Hockey Conference loss of the season on Friday evening, falling to St. Anselm by a final score of 8-0.

The loss drops the Spartans to 12-3-2 on the season, while they now sit at 7-1-1 in NEHC play. St. Anselm moves to 14-2-0 on the season overall and 8-2-0 in conference play with the victory.

Jess Cameron made 23 saves in nearly two periods of action before being relieved by Rachael Brazil, who made 17 saves for Castleton. Alex Starzyk recorded four goals for the Hawks, while four teammates added two or more assists each in the contest.

The Hawks got on the board first, netting a goal just 29 seconds into the contest. Alex Kazmer forced a turnover for St. Anselm before skating in on a breakaway where Cameron made the initial save. Cameron could not control the rebound, and Ashley Moran knocked it past her to give the home team a 1-0 lead. Just more than three minutes later, the Hawks struck again to take a 2-0 lead. After Castleton failed to clear the puck to the neutral zone, Alex Starzyk skated the puck into the slot and fired a shot that beat Cameron down low. The offensive onslaught continued for St. Anselm, as Alison Butler crashed the net and knocked in a puck at the back post to give the Hawks a 3-0 advantage less than five minutes into the game. The Spartan offense picked up late in the period, as Castleton put four shots on goal in the second half of the frame, keeping the deficit at three goals going into the locker room.

The Hawks' offensive prowess continued in the second period, as Starzyk scored her second goal of the game. Jackie Guy took a shot from the point that was initially stopped by Cameron, but Starzyk was right on the doorstep to bury the rebound to put St. Anselm up 4-0 with 13:34 to play in the period. The Hawks tacked on a power-play goal with 6:10 left in the frame when Sara McNamara buried a rebound to give her team a 5-0 lead. Starzyk capped off a hat trick for the Hawks late in the second frame when she pulled the trigger on a shot through traffic to make it a 6-0 game.

St. Anslem would tack on another goal at 10:45 of the third period when Moran netted her second goal of the game on a wrist shot to the stick side of Brazil. Starzyk would tack on her final goal with just four seconds remaining to give the game its final score of 8-0.

Cameron played the first 36:26 for Castleton, stopping 23 shots in her first conference loss of the season. Brazil played the remaining 23:34, stopping 17 out of the 19 shots she faced. Hannah Synnott went the distance for St. Anselm, recording 14 saves in her fifth shutout of the season.

The Hawks held a 48-14 shot advantage in the contest, while converting on one of their two power play opportunities. The home team also controlled the face-off circle, winning 34 out of 52 draws in the game.

Castleton is back in action tomorrow afternoon, traveling to UMass.-Boston at 1:00 p.m.