CASTLETON, Vt. – The Castleton University field hockey team used three goals in the first half and strong defense down the stretch to preserve a 3-2 win over New England College in a North Atlantic Conference matchup on Saturday night at Spartan Stadium.

With the win, Castleton eclipses its win total from one season ago, improving to 5-9 on the season and 2-1 in the conference, while New England College falls to 3-10, 0-3.

New England College jumped out to an early one-goal lead when Taylor Huyck corralled a pass in front of the net from Kayla Donahue and found the back of the cage just 7:21 into the game.

The rest of the half belonged to Castleton as the Spartans went on to outshoot the Pilgrims 7-1 over the final 18 minutes of the opening stanza, including three unanswered goals. 

Cassidy Auger found the back of the cage first when her shot from the corner came towards the front of the goal and was deflected by a Pilgrims defender into the upper corner of the cage to knot the game at one at the 11:56 mark. Sarah Wells came next with a tip in off a feed from Haley Spittle at the corner of the goal to give the Spartans their first lead of the contest 23:37 into the half. Less than seven minutes later, Cydney Jeffrey tipped in a rocket from Rachel Holland at the top of the circle to give the Spartans a 3-1 lead heading into the break.

A well-played defensive second half for both squads saw a back-and-forth battle down to the wire. Aislinn deHorsey of New England College tallied her NAC-leading 15th goal of the season in the 50th minute to cut the deficit to just one but that would prove to be the only goal of the second half. deHorsey nearly added another with less than two minutes left in regulation, but Gabrielle Ryan came up with her fourth defensive save of the season to secure the 3-2 victory. 

Wells and Spittle led the offense, combining for 11 shots on goal including a goal and an assist, respectively, while Jeffrey, Holland, and Emily Lowell all recorded multiple shots on goal in the winning efort for Castleton. 

Meeghan Doris picked up her second win of the season, making three key saves in the contest.

The Spartans will play host to Wells College in their final regular season home game on Tuesday with a game time slated for 4 p.m.