RUTLAND, Vt. -- The Castleton women's hockey team locked up the fourth seed in the New England Hockey Conference playoffs, defeating UMass Boston, 2-1, at Spartan Arena Saturday afternoon.

Darby Palisi netted a Senior Day goal to extend her team lead to 14 scores on the year. Emily Harris ended a six-game drought with a first-period tally, depositing a rebound with help from Meg Aiken and Katherine Campoli. Samantha Lawler and Emery Bonner also earned assists, upping their respective season totals to 18 and eight. The Spartans (14-10-1, 11-7-0 NEHC) had a slight edge in the faceoff circle as Aiken, Brooke Greenwood, and Julia Carpenter collected nine wins apiece. Starting her fourth consecutive contest in goal, Kirsten DiCicco allowed just one goal with 23 denials.

Despite an unsuccessful power play opportunity early in the first period, the Spartans persisted on offense with a barrage of darts headed toward the Beacon (10-13-2, 8-8-2 NEHC) goal. In the 13th minute, Campoli fired a shot from range that got deflected toward the stick of Harris. The Brit ripped a shot, followed it, and put back the rebound to put the Spartans in front. UMass Boston was presented with a man-up chance moments later, but the Castleton penalty kill with DiCicco's command prevented an equalizer.

The senior-line forwards opened the second period with a bang, controlling proceedings off Greenwood's faceoff win. 61 seconds in, a Lawler pass to Greenwood got deflected to Bonner near the blue line. The sophomore slid a pass around her defender to Palisi who propelled the puck inside the right post to make it 2-0. Cruising along with a two-score advantage, the Spartans aimed for an insurance goal with two minutes to go, but UMB's Leah Bosch held firm with four saves in 47 seconds.

DiCicco faced plenty of shots in the final period's first few minutes, stopping the first five Beacon attempts. But UMass Boston made use of a power play, cutting the lead in half as Katie Wilbert pushed in a close-range stroke. Sensing potential danger, the Spartans swarmed the visitor goal and continued to seek out open looks. That strategy became accentuated as the Beacons were tabbed with a minor penalty with 2:01 to go. Bosch held off a flurry of Castleton shots, but the Spartans prevented any opposing offense and hung on for the victory.

The program honored its seven fourth-year seniors Samantha Lawler, Darby Palisi, Katie Nealon, Katherine Campoli, Miranda Wheeler, Brooke Greenwood, and Kaitlin Bardellini with festivities before and after the game. Spartan Arena fans voted Lawler and Greenwood as the 2022-23 season's Fan Favorites.

Castleton won a tie-breaker with William Smith for the NEHC tournament's No. 4 seed, setting up a first round matchup in friendly confines on Saturday, February 18 against the Herons. Puck drop is scheduled for 3 p.m. at Spartan Arena.