BOSTON. Mass. – The Vermont State University Castleton women's hockey team fell short to UMass Boston, 3-2 Friday evening. 

Emily Hansen scored the game-winning goal with 47 seconds left to keep the Beacons undefeated in conference play. Gianna McCusker made 28 saves for Castleton in her second start.

The Spartans opened the scoring with Meg Aiken intercepting the Beacons' offensive turnover to turn a 2-on-1 counterattack in Castleton's favor. Aiken stayed patient and found Moa Carlsson for the one-tee to put Castleton up 1-0.

The Beacons were able to find a late goal off a deflection by Adriana Crepaldi to tie the game 1-1 to end the opening period.

In just 24 seconds to start the second, Victoria Griffin picked up the loose puck in front of the net and rifled a shot to score and put the Spartans back into the lead.

Each team took a penalty, so the game saw 4-on-4 action. During that time, Crepaldi scored her second goal of the night, bringing the score to 2-2 entering the final period.

The two sides battled it out for the entire third period looking for the go-ahead goal, until Hansen bagged the game-winning goal to seal the victory for the Beacons in game one.

The Spartans will look to tie the series tomorrow for a 1 p.m. puck drop.