AMHERST, Mass. -- Senior Ellie DeCarlo  had a goal and an assist while sophomore Maleigh Tittel made 16 saves to help the second-ranked Amherst College women's hockey team to a 3-0 victory over Vermont State University Castleton at Orr Rink Tuesday afternoon. 

The Mammoths improved to 8-0-1 on the season while the Spartans dropped to 5-7-1 overall. Amherst is at Trinity Saturday for a 7:30 p.m. puck drop. 

GAME HIGHLIGHTS:

* The Mammoths created many scoring opportunities over the first 30 minutes of the game, but could not put the puck behind Castleton goaltender Kirsten Dicicco. Amherst had a 16-7 advantage in shots after the first 20 minutes and each team had power-plays they could not take advantage of. 

* Amherst finally broke through just six seconds into another power-play opportunity in the second period. DeCarlo won a draw from the right face-off circle in the Castleton zone. She slid the puck back to Emily Hohmann at the right point and Hohmann quicly fired a pass to Natalie Fu. Fu slid a quick shot through a crowd that Dicicco never saw as it slid past her and into the bottom right-hand corner of the goal to give the Mammoths a 1-0 lead with 8:59 left. 

* It remained 1-0 deep into the third and final period. The Amherst defense corps of Alejandra Ubarri, Gretchen Dann, Claire O'Connor, Kelsey Stewart, Carlisle Brush and Hohmann did a nice job limiting the visitors opportunities and blocked 10 shots in the game. Meanwhile, the Mammoths opened the third period with 11 shots, eight of which were saved by Dicicco. 

* With 7:48 remaining in the game, the Mammoths were finally able to breath easier when they cashed in another power-play chance. Alyssa Xu blocked a clearing pass behind the Castleton goal and eventual was able to feed Brush up at the left point. Brush skated into the slot and fired a shot to the lower left-corner of the goal, where Rylee Glennon was able to tip it past Diccico for the key insurance goal. 

* The Mammoths scored an even strength goal with three minutes left. Anna Baxter delivered a pass back to Stewart at the right point. Stewart's shot was blocked, but caromed to DeCarlo alone in the mid-slot, and the senior one-time a slap shot over the left shoulder of Dicicco for the 3-0 lead. 



BY THE NUMBERS:

* Amherst finished with a 47-16 shot advantage. Dicicco made 44 saves in defeat, while Tittel stopped all 16 shots she faced to post her second career shutout. 

* Amherst won 26 of the 45 face-offs in the game. Maeve Reynolds was on point, winning 15 of the 19 draws she took, while Mary Thompson won 6 of 9. 

* The Mammoths went 2 for 5 on the power-play, while killing off all four Castleton power plays in the game.