February 2, 2008

Castleton drops 5-2 contest to St. Anselm

Rutland, VT-The Castleton State College women’s ice hockey team lost 5-2 to St. Anselm in ECAC East action. St. Anselm’s Daniella Lyons scored two goals and had two assists, while Kelsey Johnson added a goal and two assists to lead the 18-1-0 (14-0-0 ECAC East) Hawks.

Lyons broke out for a pair of first period goals to set the tone for St. Anselm and the Hawks never looked back. 4:20 into the opening period Lyons scored her fourth of the season off assists from Arianna Rigano and Bianca DeSantis. Lyons found the net just over three minutes later, this time assisted by Kathleen Twomey and Johnson.

Castleton’s Maryanne Diehm cut the lead in half as she score unassisted, less than 30 seconds later. Rigano would tally the game winner with five minutes remaining in the period.

Johnson and Twomey each tallied second period goals as the Hawks stretched their lead to 5-1 through the first 40 minutes of action.

Castleton’s leading scorer and captain, Adrianna Riggio brought the Spartans to within a pair as she scored off a Diehm assist with just over 10 minutes remaining in the game. It would be as close as the Spartans would come, as the Hawk defense held on for the win.

Vanessa Carter made 40 saves for the 5-10-3 (4-6-3 ECAC East) Spartans in the loss. St. A’s goalie, Jen Taylor improved to 5-0, stopping 11 shots in the win.

Castleton returns to action next Friday when they travel to New England College. St. Anselm will play a non-conference game Wednesday at Sacred Heart. [Box Score]

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