Fitchburg State Withstands Western Connecticut State, 3-2

Stearns notches a pair of scores in Falcons LEC victory

FITCHBURG, Mass. (October 19, 2013) – Freshman forward Stephanie Stearns (Mystic, Conn.) collected two goals as the Fitchburg State field hockey team defeated Western Connecticut State, 3-2 in Little East Conference (LEC) action this afternoon at Elliot Field.

Western Connecticut State opened the scoring at the 23:02 mark as senior forward Kim Gigante (Bedford Hills, N.Y.) received a feed from sophomore Jenny Cappello (Litchfield, Conn.) and fired a shot into the back of the cage for her team-leading five score of the season for the 1-0 advantage.

Fitchburg State quickly evened the score (1-1) the less than 30 seconds later when sophomore Erin Morrissey (Hubbardston, Mass.) blasted a shot inside the far post for her first tally on the year off an assist from freshman Mallory Griczika (Barre, Mass.).

The Falcons took its first lead of the contest in the 26th minute of action as freshman Alyssa Wyson (Lunenburg, Mass.) crossed the ball over to Stearns, who then tucked the ball inside the left post for her third goal of the season to put Fitchburg State up 2-1 going into halftime.

Following the break, the Green and Gold upped its lead at the 53:41 mark when Stearns redirected a shot off the stick of senior Rebecca Bush (Littleton, Mass.) in front of the cage for her second goal of the contest to make the score 3-1.

The Colonials cut the deficit to one (3-2) in the 64th minute of play as sophomore Heidi Odenwaelder (Goshen, Conn.) struck for her fifth marker on the season as she redirected a shot from Cappello at the top of the circle into the upper left corner of the cage, But that's as close as the visitors would get as the Falcons defense was able hold off Western Connecticut over the final six minute of play to secure the 3-2 victory.

Throughout the match, Western Connecticut State held a slim 17-14 advantage in shots, while also holding a commanding 20-4 margin in penalty corners.  In the cage sophomore Judith Valentin (Brockton, Mass.) collected 11 stops for the Falcons en-route to her first victory of the season, while freshman Kristy Trotta (Danbury, Conn.) registered nine saves for the Colonials in 61:55 minutes of action.

Fitchburg State (5-8, 1-7 LEC) will be back in action on Tuesday as it travels to UMass Dartmouth at 7 p.m. Western Connecticut State (4-10, 1-7 LEC) will visit Eastern Connecticut State on Tuesday for a match starting at 6 p.m.