CSC drops close one to Pilgrims
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Castleton goalie Katharyn Dembrowski reaches back but cannot stop this shot from going into the net during Friday's home opener against New England College at Spartan Arena. ALBERT J. MARRO / RUTLAND HERALD |
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By Chuck Clarino Staff Writer - Published: November 14, 2009
The first game in Spartan Arena ended up being a loss for the Castleton College women's hockey team, but the Spartans served notice that they are going to be a team to be reckoned with.
Castleton tied the game at 1-1 but New England College answered less than a minute later and then added a pad goal to pin a 3-2 loss on the Spartans in ECAC East Division III women's hockey action Friday.
"We were motivated tonight; motivated to make a statement," Castleton coach Bethany Torrice said. "Even though we were on the losing end, we are going to challenge this year."
Outshot 35-21, it was hard going for the Spartans against a New England team (3-0-0, 2-0-0 in ECAC) that was quick and moved the puck extremely well.
But outside of giving up a power-play goal to Courtney Kerslake at 8:26 of the first period, the Spartans defense flexed but did not snap through two periods.
Freshman goalie Katharyn Dembrowski was solid between the pipes for the Spartans and, although she and her defense faced waves of Pilgrims and volleys of shots, the defense hung tough.
"Their goalkeeper was outstanding," NEC coach Sis Paulsen said. "Our goals were definitely hard-working goals."
Both teams had to work for goals.
The Spartans had a tough time breaking out against the quick and physical Pilgrims. Even when they did and were able to set up, it was tough to get anything past Pilgrims goalie Teraysa White, who was strong on anything low and was able to pop her 5-foot-7 frame up and snatch everything in the air.
But Castleton kept working.
And it finally came together in the third period when the Spartans swarmed in the zone on the power play. Meagan Hulbert took a hard shot from the top of the slot and when White made the initial save, Abbey Hewes was there to knock it in to knot the contest at 1-1 with 11:23 remaining.
The goal fired up the Spartans but it also seemed to rile up the Pilgrims.
Not quite a minute later, Chelsea Torrico made a rush up the right wing, beat her defender and fired a shot that slipped between Dembowski and the post to put the Pilgrims up for keeps.
"We emphasize the shifts after a goal either scored for us or against us as very, very critical," Paulsen said. "We showed a lot of character and a lot of heart to give up the goal and to come right back and put one in."
Down 2-1, Castleton doubled its efforts to score, took some chances and set out on a hard forecheck to try and get something going.
But the Pilgrims were also strong-willed and the result was a spate of penalties in the third period that influenced play.
Two seconds after Castleton's Hewes was called for interference, negating a Spartans power play, the Pilgrims took a faceoff down in the Castleton end. Kate Kellar scored right off the faceoff — not a second ticked off the clock — to pad the lead to 3-1.
But Castleton stormed back and threw everything into the attack.
With time running out, Charl May unleashed a hard shot from the left point which deflected off a skater and got past White to make it 3-2 with 13.3 seconds remaining. Castleton called a timeout to set up one final play but the buzzer sounded as Paulsen stood on the boards and yelled at the officials because Castleton had six skaters and a goalie on the ice at the time.
"I'm really happy with the effort," said Torrice of her Spartans, who fell to 2-3-0 overall and 1-1-0 in ECAC action. "This was all about effort and we're excited to play with opponents like this."
chuck.clarino@rutlandherald.com
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