RUTLAND, Vt. - Vermont State University Castleton women's hockey defeated Rivier University 5-0 in the opening round of The Bagley Invitational Friday afternoon.
 
VTSU Castleton kicked off the first "The Bagley Invitational" on Friday against Rivier University. The Spartans wanted to bring the energy to start the game and they did just that. Bringing pressure deep into Raider's territory, cycling the puck well among one another and contesting the goaltender with a copious number of shots to begin the first period. Leading the charge for Castleton was Moa Carlsson, who had her hand involved in many plays in tonight's contest. Carlsson connected with Meg Aiken who contested the goalie with a one-timer but would be denied on the first attempt. Julia Carpenter engaged herself in front of the net and found the rebound off the pad and was able to sneak it by on the second attempt to open the scoring at Spartan Arena.
 
Carlsson and the Spartans continued to make plays in the first and keep the pressure on the Raider's. Carlsson skated around in Rivier's defensive zone, patiently waiting for an opportunity to open up and that opportunity was first year Victoria Griffin, who charged towards the open space and finished the cross-crease play from Carlsson to put the Spartans up by two. This was Griffin's first career goal.
 
After a busy first period from the Spartans, Rivier stepped up their game and didn't allow for Castleton to keep applying pressure like they did in the first. The Raider's made valiant efforts to get on the board but Kirsten DiCicco was having none of that. She turned away all 18 shots and picked up her second shutout of the season in the Spartans victory.
 
Castleton went scoreless in the second period but that would not be the case for the third. Carlsson once again would be involved in another goal for the Spartans, only this time she bagged the goal herself with the help from alternate captain Emily Harris and captain Emery Bonner. Before anyone could soak in Carlsson's goal, the Spartans went down and scored another goal in just under thirty seconds of play. This time coming from Ellie Schliebener who netted her first goal of the season to put the Spartans up by four. Castleton continued their domination of the third period. Nora Hundsnes Pollestad tallied her first career point with a connection play to Taylor Adams, who found Alex Johnson to put away one final goal to end the opening match of The Bagley Invitational with a bang.
 
The Spartans will compete in the championship match tomorrow, December 9 at 4 p.m. against No. 10 Colby College at Spartan Arena.