NASHUA, N.H. – Playing for the first time since late March, the Castleton women's hockey team put on a clinic in their season-opener Friday night, blanking Rivier University on the road in a 6-0 win.
 
After controlling much of the opening period, it was Nancy Benedict opening up the scoring for the Spartans. Just under eight minutes into the period, Katie Nealon got the puck in the attacking zone before passing it to Jenna Krikorian. The sophomore then found Benedict who snuck her shot past Rivier's goalie and into the back of the net for her second career goal.
 
Castleton's (1-0-0) lead would double with a minute remaining in the first period on a powerplay goal. Samantha Lawler collected the puck at the left circle and laid it off to an oncoming Emery Bonner. The freshman returned the puck to Lawler who rifled a shot from the slot and into the bottom corner, making it a 2-0 game.
 
After a back-and-forth start to the second period, the Spartans would extend their lead even further, scoring two goals in the period's final three minutes to make it 4-0. The first would come Benedict again, this time finishing off a wrap-around feed from Nealon, before Julia Carpenter would score her second career goal in the final 30 seconds.
 
The third period brought more of the same dominance from Castleton, and three minutes in their lead would balloon to five after Alex Johnson scored her first collegiate goal with the helper from Katherine Campoli and Darby Palisi.
 
The Spartans would score their sixth and final goal of the game shorthanded after Carpenter got booked with a tripping penalty seven minutes in. Brooke Greenwood won the initial face-off after the penalty call and took it herself, beating the Raiders (0-0-1) down the ice for the goal.
 
All together the Spartans got off 59 shots compared to just seven for Rivier, all of which were turned away in Kirsten DiCicco's third career shutout.
 
Castleton will look to keep their offense rolling in their rematch against Rivier Saturday, Oct. 30. It will be the Spartans' home-opener, with puck drop set for 3 p.m.