Lady Spartans ready for NAC playoff run

The Castleton Women’s hockey team split the pair of games on their road trip this weekend, beating St. Michael on Friday, 3-0, and losing to Norwich 4-0 on Saturday.
“We struggled with both games as our team is dealing with illness,” Head Coach Bill Bowes said. “It shows a lot of guts and character that we were able to pull out a win against St. Mikes.”
The Spartans were led by Brie Narodowy’s two goals and tenacious goaltending by Paula Stephens who finished with a 20-save shutout in net.
Narodowy scored her first goal at 6:14 into the game, putting the puck top left to beat the goalie. She was able to score again in the second period on a power play opportunity to put the Spartans up 2-0. They were able to net one more goal as Lisa Kilroy scored on an open net with only 14 seconds remaining in the contest.
“We did a really good job at pulling this win out,” Stephens said. “We kept it simple and our game plan worked for us.”
The next night against Norwich, the Spartans had trouble generating offense falling 4-0 to the 4th Nationally ranked Cadets.
The Spartans came out aggressive and had a few power-play opportunities in the first period but the Cadets’ penalty were too much, shutting down all five of the Spartans power-play opportunities.
Stephens made 29 saves for the Spartans as they ended their regular season with the best overall and conference record in program history.
The Spartans finished at 14-9-2 overall and 9-5-2 in conference play.
“We have got to do better on our power plays,” Bowes said. “If we can do that and stop committing as many penalties as we have, we can get to where we want to and expect to be which is in our conference championship game.”
The Spartans await the result of the Nichols and Salve Regina game to see if they get the second or the third seed in the conference championships.
If Nichols wins or ties, the Spartans get the second seed. If Salve Regina wins, the Spartans will take the third seed and face the number six team in the tournament.
“In the playoffs you have to play good. Today anyone can win because its win or go home,” Bowes said. “I hope to see a lot of Castleton students at the game next Saturday the support this season has been great and hopefully it continues for our playoff games.”

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