Fitchburg State Falls At Plymouth State, 5-1

Loebs nets lone goal for the Falcons in MASCAC setback

PLYMOUTH, N.H. (February 19, 2013) – The Fitchburg State ice hockey team fell to Plymouth State University, 5-1 in Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) action this evening at Hanaway Rink.

In the opening frame, Plymouth State grabbed the lead at the 6:40 mark as sophomore defenseman Zach Sarig (Wyomissing, PA./Valley Jr. Warriors) blasted a slap shot into the upper right corner for his seventh score of the season off feeds from junior Dave Walters (Ottawa, ON/Ottawa Jr. Senators) and freshman Zach Fox (Sandown, N.H,/New England Wolves) for the 1-0 advantage.

Fitchburg State nearly knotted the score with four minutes remaining in the period when seniors Joseph Caveney (Fitchburg, Mass./New England Jr. Huskies) and Justin Quinn (Braintree, Mass./Braintree) and freshman Mike Morrison (Scarborough, Me./Portland Jr. Pirates) all registered shots on goal but Panther net-minder Jack Astedt (Angelholm, Sweden/Rogle BK) turned aside all three opportunities to preserve the 1-0 lead going into the first intermission.

The Panthers doubled their lead (2-0) four minutes into the second period when sophomore Mike Freitag (Westmont, IL./Valley Jr. Warriors) intercepted a pass and race up the right side and fired a shot into back of the net for the unassisted short-handed tally.

In the final stanza, Plymouth State upped its lead at the 3:32 mark when Sarig connected for his second score of the game using assists from freshman Andrew Wigg (Lantz, NS/Yarmouth Mariners) and senior Alex Cottle (West Chester, PA./Philadelphia Jr. Flyers) to take a 3-0 lead.

The Green and Gold broke their scoring silence with just over 11 minutes remaining in the contest as sophomore forward Sean Loebs (Cresskill, N.J./Connecticut Jr. Wolfpack) collected a loose puck in front of the net and slipped the puck past Astedt to cut the lead to 3-1. Classmate Brett Nussbaum (Boca Raton, Fla./CD Selects) and freshman Max Lorenzen (Leesburg, Va./Valley Jr. Warriors) assisted on the play.

The hosts secured their 18th victory of the season at the 15:02 mark when freshman Brantley Sherwood (San Anselmo, CA/Topeka Road Runners) deposited the puck into the back of net for his second score of the season before Freitag iced the game on an empty netter with five second left on the clock resulting in the 5-1 final.

Throughout the match, Fitchburg State held a 32-24 advantage in shots, while the Panthers were 1-for-3 on the power play. In net, junior Randy Wolcott (East Haven, Conn./Wisconsin-Stevens Point) notched 19 saves for the Falcons in the in the setback, while Astedt stopped 31 shots for Plymouth State in the complete game effort.

Fitchburg State (10-13-2, 9-8-1 MASCAC) returns to action this Saturday as it visits the fourth seeded Owls of Westfield State in the MASCAC Quarterfinals at 5:35 p.m. Plymouth State (18-6-1, 14-3-1 MASCAC) earned a first round bye of the tournament and will host a semifinal round match up Tuesday at 6 p.m.