The Lady Spartans opened up the hockey season away from home against two of the top teams in their conference. While last season’s 7-18 record barely got them into the ECAC East tournament, the women’s team is trying to improve and climb toward the conference’s upper tier.

Led by first-year head coach Craig Paiement, Castleton has brought in 10 freshmen to an already young group of players.

Saint Anselm College, picked to win the conference in the preseason poll, hosted the new-look Spartan squad with 500 fans in attendance.

Castleton was ranked ninth in the ECAC East poll, but once the puck dropped, the rankings meant virtually nothing.

Castleton had trouble controlling the puck and finished the first period without a shot on goal. Saint Anselm scored four goals in the first period off junior goaltender Vanessa Carter, who was very busy throughout the season opener.

The opposition continued to pour on the goals and dominated Castleton en route to a 9-0 win. Carter stopped an impressive 63 of the 72 shots on goal, but the Spartans were able to get only eight shot attempts the whole game.

The next challenge for the Lady Spartans was against New England College. In the first period, Castleton came up short on opportunities and gave up a goal with less than two minutes left in the period.

New England scored early in the second period, and the Spartans trailed by two after the second intermission.

The women would end up suffering another tough loss to start the season, defeated by New England 5-0.

On Saturday, the Lady Spartans played its home opener against M.I.T. at the Rutland Regional Fieldhouse.

After a scoreless first period, the visitors opened up the second period with a quick goal. Castleton answered back in the second when freshman Maryanne Diehm scored off fellow freshman Brianna Behmke’s assist.

Sophomore Katelyn Greene gave the Spartans a 2-1 lead after her first goal of the season. Down by one in the third period, M.I.T. tied things up with a goal from Mary Harding.

With the game held in the balance, Vanessa Carter made ten saves during the final period and gave her team a chance to win.

Freshman forward Adrianna Riggio scored the game-winning goal off an Ashley Whitehouse assist with less than two minutes left.

The Lady Spartans held on to win 3-2, giving the team its first victory of the young season. Castleton hits the road this weekend in a rematch against M.I.T. on Friday and a tough Holy Cross squad on Saturday.