RUTLAND, Vt. – Making her first career start, it was Izabella Segui playing hero in the Castleton women's hockey team's opening round win over Connecticut College Friday afternoon. The freshman saved 32 shots in the game, but none were bigger than her consecutive saves in the penalty shootout to give the Spartans the 2-1 edge and send them to the finals of the 12^th annual Spartan Invitational.
 
The Camels (2-4-2, 0-3-0 NESCAC) came out of the gate hungry, and seven minutes into the opening period scored the game's first goal. It looked as though they were poised for another after taking the early lead, but the Spartans' defense did their best to keep it a one-score game, fending off 16 more Camel shots to go into the first break down just 1-0.
 
The second period was all Castleton (5-4-2, 3-2-2 NEHC), as the Spartans scored three unanswered goals from Katie Nealon, Julia Carpenter and Emily Harris to turn their one-goal deficit into a two-goal lead. Conn College would steal one back with under a minute to go in the period, but after a shaky start Castleton found themselves with a 3-2 lead heading into the final period.
 
Riding the momentum from their late-goal in the second, the Camels took just over a minute to level the game at three off of Natalie Witkowski's second goal of the day. The Spartans would go on the power play twice over the remainder of the period but were unable to convert, and for the second straight game, Castleton headed into overtime.
 
The sides traded blows in the extra period, but both goaltenders came up with huge saves to keep the puck out of the net. This resulted in the game ending in a 3-3 draw, Castleton's second tie in a row, but since a winner needed to be decided to advance to the finals, the game would end with a shootout.
 
Brooke Greenwood got things started for the Spartans. The junior made a beautiful move around the Camel's netminder and backhanded the puck for the score, but Melanie Conca responded immediately, sneaking her shot puck past Segui to make it 1-1.
 
Next up for Castleton was Julia Carpenter, who missed her penalty shot just wide, but Segui made sure to keep the score tied, sliding from left to right and rejecting Witkowski's shot with her stick.
 
Third in the lineup for the Spartans was assistant captain Ryanne Mix. The senior took the puck left and went straight at Abby Wieczorek before rifling the puck into the top corner to put Castleton up 2-1. Looking to force another round was Conn College's Casey Godfrey, but it was Segui coming up with the denial once again, this time sliding from left to right and making the glove save to clinch the win for the Spartans and send them to the finals.
 
Colby College won the evening's second game against SUNY Potsdam, meaning the Spartans will take on the Mules Saturday, Dec. 11 in the Championship Game, with puck-drop set for 4 p.m.