HENNIKER, N.H. – Vermont State University Castleton women's hockey defeated New England College Friday evening, 4-2.
 
VTSU Castleton returned to New England Conference Hockey action Friday night in Henniker, N.H. The Spartans would find themselves in trouble early with a penalty assessed to them. The Pilgrims took advantage and capitalized on the penalty to go up early over the Spartans. With the early mistakes getting out of the way, Castleton began their run with sophomore forward Moa Carlsson connecting with captains Katie Campoli and Julia Carpenter to even the game once again.
 
The Spartans got a taste for goals after their first and proceeded to light the lamp effortlessly. To begin the second period, Ellie Schliebener and Taylor Adams cycled the pack in a flash and found the sniper Alex Johnson, who secured the target and took a 2-1 lead. NEC looked for a response but Victoria Bakopanos was having none of that. She provided 27 saves with 14 of them coming in the second period. Castleton continued to play their game and didn't let the Pilgrims interfere with that. With the confidence continuing to grow, the Spartans kept the heat and tallied another goal to extend the lead to three. This time it was sophomore defender Megan Ward getting the job done, with Codi Bacon providing the assist and her first career point with the Spartans.
 
With a 3-1 lead entering the third, the Spartans made sure to put the game out of reach for the Pilgrims with Schliebener and captain Emery Bonner setting up Carlsson for her second goal of the game. NEC's Samantha Babbit, who assisted on the Pilgrims first goal, tried to get her team back into the game with a late third period goal but it wasn't enough as the Spartans collected their second NEHC win on the season.
 
The Spartans are back in NEHC action against #13 Norwich Saturday, November 18 at 3 p.m.