GENEVA, N.Y. – The Castleton women's hockey team went into overtime for just the second time all season in Saturday afternoon's match against William Smith College, but a scoreless extra period resulted in a 1-1 tie against the Herons.
The two sides traded blows for much of the opening period, but the Spartans (5-4-1, 3-2-1 NEHC) turned on the pressure late with the hopes of breaking open the scoring. Starting at the 18:57 mark of the first, Castleton got four shots on target over the next 15 seconds, but were unable to sneak any of them past William Smith's Amanda Aalto.
The trend continued into the second period, with the Spartans getting nine shots on net compared to eight for the Herons, but Aalto and Castleton's
Kirsten DiCicco stood tall to force another scoreless period.
The final period in regulation got off to a quick start, as it was William Smith (3-8-1, 2-5-1 NEHC) finally breaking the tie two minutes in on a goal from Alisa Canney. The Herons looked poised to double their lead three minutes later on the power play, but the Spartans kept it a one-score game, with DiCicco making 13 of her 29 saves in the period.
Once William Smith's powerplay ended, the Spartans earned the man advantage and wasted no time leveling the score. One minute into their power play,
Courtney Gauthier sent a shot wide, but
Darby Palisi and
Brooke Greenwood were able to recover the puck and find Gauthier once again, who found the back of the net the second time to make it a 1-1 game.
Gauthier's nine career powerplay goals tie her for fourth in program history, and she now sits just two away from tying the record previously held by Jocelyn Forrest.
Castleton had a chance to seal the game at the end of the third period on another powerplay, getting five shots off in the final three minutes, but none found paydirt and the game entered overtime.
The Spartans outshot the Herons 6-4 in the extra period, but the netminders did their job once again, keeping the score level and ending the game in a 1-1 draw.
Castleton is back in action next weekend as they host Connecticut College, SUNY Potsdam and Colby College in the annual Spartan Invitational. The Spartans will kick the festivities off with a matchup against Connecticut College Friday, Dec. 10 with puck drop set for 4 p.m.
