GORHAM, Maine – The Vermont State University Castleton men's hockey team was defeated by New England Hockey Conference opponent Southern Maine 5-2 on Saturday.

 Castleton opened the scoring with Zach Trempner setting up Trevor Castino for his third goal of the season to give the Spartans an early 1-0 lead. 

Southern Maine's Ethan MacDuff found the equalizer with just over a minute left to play in the first period to bring the score level to one. 

Josh Ward took between the pipes for the Spartans after a career night in game one against the Huskies. He provided 26 saves in game two for Castleton.

The Huskies grabbed their first lead of the game five minutes into the second period, taking a 2-1 lead over the Spartans.

Trempner earned his second assist of the night by setting up Anthony Persi for his first goal of the season, bringing the Spartans back level with the Huskies at two. 

Southern Maine scored two more times to take back the lead and head into the final period with a 4-2 lead.

The Spartans were relentless on the offensive side in an attempt to get back into the game. They outshot the Huskies 16-5 in the third period looking for an answer. However, it was the Huskies scoring once more to put the game out of reach, splitting the series against the Spartans.

VTSU Castleton returns to action Friday, February 21 at 7 p.m. against Elmira College.