RUTLAND, Vt. -- Going for its third straight weekend sweep, the Castleton University women's ice hockey team was defeated by UMass Boston 4-2 at Spartan Arena Saturday afternoon in New England Hockey Conference (NEHC) action. With the loss today, the Spartans fall to 5-3-0 (5-1-0 NEHC) while the Beacons improve to 3-4-1 (2-4-0 NEHC).

After a scoreless first period where the Beacons outshot the Spartans 8-7, the Spartans found themselves down early in the second period. The Beacons took a 1-0 lead at the 1:51 mark of the period on a Hannah MacDougall breakaway goal. Cailey Kozich sent a long pass through the Spartan defense and MacDougall maneuvered her away around goaltender Alexis Kalm to tally to give the Beacons the lead.

The Beacons doubled their lead just over a minute later as Katie Leffler scored a shorthanded goal at the 3:05 mark of the second period. With the Spartans on the power play, Leffler forced a turnover, raced up the ice and scored to give the Beacons a 2-0 lead.

The Beacons went on the power play and added a third goal in the second period. After an inital shot from Bri Colucci that was saved by Kalm, Kozich scored her second goal of the season after a scrum occurred in front of the Spartans net.

The Spartans would finally get on the board late in the second period. At the 18:12 mark of the period, Casey Traill raced all the up the ice and beat two Beacon defenders to score her third goal of the season as the Beacons continued to lead 3-1.  

Kaitlin Bardellini would give the Spartans hope as the freshman tallied her first career goal at the 4:34 mark of the third period to bring the Spartans within one.

The Beacons would add an empty net goal late in the third period to solidify the win and handed the Spartans their first conference loss of the season.

Kalm finished the game stopping 24 of 27 shots while Caty Flagg saved 27 shots to earn the win for the Beacons.

Despite the loss today, the Spartans remain at the top of the NEHC standings as they are two points ahead of second-place Norwich.

Women's ice hockey returns to action Saturday, November 30 as it travels to take on Nazareth in a non-conference matchup starting at 4 p.m.