HENNIKER, N.H. – Led by four points from Cydney Jeffrey and three more by Madison Langey, the Castleton University field hockey team defeated the New England College Pilgrims 5-2 on Saturday evening.

Castleton improves to 10-8 overall and 3-2 in the NAC, while also clinching a spot in the upcoming conference championship, which begins on Oct. 25. New England College falls 6-11 and 1-4 in league play.

Starting off hot, the Spartans jumped out to a 2-0 lead within the game's first 25 minutes of play. Madison Langey tallied the first goal and Castleton did not look back. Casey Traill added her ninth of the season less than 10 minutes later.

After a goal by NEC's Brittany Tierney, the score remained unchanged at 2-1 for more than 25 minutes. Castleton would eventually strike again with Cydney Jeffrey's first score of the evening in the 56th minute. She added another just 10 minutes later to push the Spartan lead to 4-1.

Over the last two minutes of play, Castleton and New England College traded a pair of scores. Emily Lowell notched her 15th of the season first, making it 5-1, before Tierney struck again to wrap the scoring.

Castleton held a 17-9 advantage in shots and a 13-2 advantage in penalty corners in the contest.

Tashia Pashby-Rockwood earned the win in the cage to improve to 5-4. She made four saves.

Field hockey returns to action at 2 p.m. on Sunday for a nonconference matchup at Rivier University.

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