The Castleton women’s hockey team fell short against Norwich Saturday, Jan. 29, 8-1. Laura Szwed scored a goal less than three minutes in with, leaving powerhouse, Norwich a little bit shocked. The assists came from Sterling Nelson and Christine Newton The last time the Spartans faced the Cadets on Nov. 5, 2010, Castleton lost 11-1. But losing against last year’s NCAA Championship runner-up gave the Spartans more desire to defeat Norwich during this encounter. Unfortunately, the Spartans couldn’t pull through.

“We’re in a little bit of a slump,” coach Bethany Torrice said. “We get into a situation where you forget about the success we’ve had.”

Senior goalie, Amanda Hoy, stopped 38 of the 46 shots on goal. Hoy and Katharyn Dembowski have shown great talent, with save percentages better than .900 on the season.

However, seven minutes into the first period the Cadets’ Sophie Leclerc, scored their first goal with the help of Jillayne DeBus and Meaghan Papagno. Not too long after, Julie Fortier put them in the lead with the assistance of Melissa Rundlett and Renee Lortie. The tally was Fortier’s 51st career goal and 100th career point.

Norwich’s crowd grew louder when Papagno scored with Leclerc and DeBus guiding her to the goal.

Although Hoy made 12 first-period saves, it wasn’t enough because Castleton finished the period down, 3-1.

Eight minutes into the second, Fortier scored on a slap shot from Lortie. Seconds later, Castleton’s Meagan Hulbert got a penalty for hooking, which the Spartans killed off, but they still couldn’t keep up with Leclerc, DeBus, Guay’s fast skates, which resulted in another goal for the Cadets.

“We ran out of gas towards the end,” Torrice said. “I think we played tough though.”

The frustration showed in the third period when Jade Werger received a penalty for body checking 12 seconds in. Leclerc netted a hat-trick goal from Papagno five minutes later.

The score was now 6-1, slowly putting Castleton at a slight disadvantage.

Sarah Scardino stepped onto the ice and scored, assisted by Kelsey Cone and Baylie Lamarre.

After that, Sarianne Lynn’s goal for Norwich happened during a scramble in front of the net. Elle Kadel and Mollie Fitzpatrick had the helpers.

After Norwich scored to lead it 8-1, a little over seven minutes into the third period, Torrice called a timeout and huddled the girls in to try and encourage them to keep pushing.

The Spartans have another game coming up on Friday, Feb. 4 against Nichols, to which they lost 3-2 at Nichols, Dec 4. The game will be the second annual “Pink the Rink” night to benefit breast cancer awareness.

“Special night, a lot of excitement, a lot more fans. Good energy!” said Torrice.