Fitchburg State Silences Westfield State, 3-1

Vorse paces Falcons defense with 30 saves in MASCAC victory

FITCHBURG, Mass. (February 18, 2010) - The Fitchburg State ice hockey team registered a single goal in all three periods this evening as the Falcons topped Westfield State College, 3-1 in the Wallace Civic Center at Fitchburg State College. 

With the victory, Fitchburg State improves to 16-4-1 on the season and remains atop the MASCAC Conference with a 12-3-0 mark and 24 points. Westfield State falls to 12-8-2 on the year and currently holds on to fourth place in the conference with a 9-4-2 mark and 20 points.

Fitchburg State struck first early in the contest as senior defensemen Pat Dolan (St. Louis, MO/St. Louis Jr. Blues) connected for game's opening marker just minutes into regulation. At the 2:22 mark, Dolan laced an outside shot and found the back of goal, netting his third score of the season for an early 1-0 lead.

In the second period, the offensive tempo picked up with 19 shots in the period and heavy hitting by both squads. Midway through the frame, the Fitchburg State offense struck again, taking a 2-0 advantage as junior Chris Riggs (Sewell, N.J./Fort Vancouver Pioneers) notched his 12th tally of the season off helpers from senior Andrew Hutton (Brewster, Mass./Boston Harbor Wolves) and junior Billy Pescosolido (Framingham, Mass./Walpole Express).

Westfield State finally broke its scoring silence later in the second period as Dylan Scanlon (Longmeadow, Mass./Springfield Jr. Falcons) ended the Owls 33 minute scoring drought with a goal at the 13:43 mark. Scanlon brought Westfield State within (2-1), connecting for his third goal of the season off assists from Pat Nelson (Cary, N.C./Queen City Steam) and Danny Kaufman (Scotch Plains, N.J./North Bay Skyhawks).

The Falcons maintained their slim one goal advantage for most of the third period until freshman Justin Quinn (Braintree, Mass./Braintree) gave the Falcons a late lift with his eighth marker of the season midway through the stanza. Quinn took a pair of feeds from classmate Chris Costigan (Salem, N.H./Northern Cyclones) and senior Chris Brecken (Hudson, Mass./Hudson) and notched the game-changer to give the Falcons a two goal advantage.

Westfield State slowly crept back into the contest, using a 6x5 advantage over the final two minutes of the frame to record a trio of shots on net. Fitchburg State countered with a strong penalty kill as junior goaltender Robert Vorse (Leominster, Mass./Bay State Breakers) tallied 30 stops in net, including four in the final two minutes of play. Sophomore Ian Wilson (Tulsa, OK/North Bay Skyhawks) was also strong in net for the Owls, posting 18 stops in the complete game effort.          

Fitchburg State (16-4-1, 12-3-0 MASCAC) will hit the ice again on Saturday as it hosts Worcester State College at 7 p.m. Westfield State (12-8-2, 9-4-2 MASCAC) will host Salem State College on Saturday starting at 5:35 p.m.

CLICK HERE FOR BOX SCORE & PLAY-BY-PLAY

Fitchburg State 3, Westfield State 1

Scoring
First Period: FIT: Patrick Dolan, 2:22
Second Period: FIT: Chris Riggs (Andrew Hutton, Billy Pescosolido), 7:02; WES: Dylan Scanlon (Pat Nelson, Danny Kaufman), 13:43;
Third Period: FIT: Justin Quinn (Chris Costigan, Chris Brecken), 10:19   
Goaltending: FIT: Robert Vorse (60:00), 30 saves; WES: Ian Wilson (58:36), 18 saves;
Shots: FIT: 21; WES: 31