RUTLAND, Vt. – The Vermont State University Castleton men's hockey team fell to New England College 6-2, on Saturday afternoon at Spartan Arena. 

After losing on Friday, NEC came out with high energy and intensity to start Saturday's game. Vesse-Wincent Lampen scored the first goal to give the Pilgrims the lead. 

NEC went on to score three more times to take a 4-0 lead after 20 minutes of play.

NEC's Gunnar Sibley wasted no time in the second period, scoring in just 45 seconds to increase the Pilgrims' lead to five. 

Simon Brenter entered the second period for Castleton and was solid between the pipe. The senior made 21 saves to keep Castleton's comeback hopes alive. Zach Trempner was strong on the dot, winning 13 of his 16 faceoffs for the Spartans.

Castleton didn't let NEC's lead discourage them as Logan Dapprich and Cam Reid assisted Balint Mesterhazy on his first goal of the season to get the Spartans on the board. 

The Spartans didn't stop there as Josef Vyvial connected with Andrew Stefura to score Castleton's second goal at the beginning of the third period to spark momentum for the Spartans. Stefura became the sixth Spartan in program history to score 40 goals for the program. 

Despite Castleton's two goals, the Pilgrims shut down Castleton's rally with a powerplay goal with seven minutes left in the game to secure the victory and split the series with the Spartans over the weekend. 

Following the contest, Castleton recognized its eight seniors – Romeo Torain, Zach Papapetros, Stone Stelzl, Justin Stairs, Jackson Kobelka, Bryce Irwin, Stefura, Brenter, and Trempner.

VTSU Castleton travels to Gorham, Maine to take on Southern Maine on Friday, February 14th at 7 p.m.