Fitchburg State Muscles Past Worcester State, 5-3

McCready's hat-trick keeps Falcon atop the MASCAC leader board

FITCHBURG, Mass. (February 20, 2010) - Freshman Kevin McCready (Poughkeepsie, N.Y./Mohawk CC) registered his first collegiate hat-trick to lead Fitchburg State past Worcester State, 5-3 in MASCAC action this evening.

With the victory, Fitchburg State improves to 17-4-1 on the season and remains atop the MASCAC leader board with an incredible 13-3-0 mark and 26 points. Worcester State falls to 5-15-2 on the year and currently holds on to fifth place in the conference with a 3-11-2 mark.

Fitchburg State wasted no time in creating some offense as McCready kick started the night with his first score of the contest just 1:09 into the game. The sophomore forward took feeds from freshmen Justin Quinn (Braintree, Mass./Braintree) and John Soroka (Philadelphia, Pa./Philadelphia Little Flyers) to give the Falcons an early one goal edge.

McCready followed suit just three minutes later, closing out the first period scoring with his second marker of the contest. The first-year Falcon teamed up with sophomore Thomas McAleer (East Islip, N.Y./New York Bobcats) and senior Chris Brecken (Hudson, Mass./Hudson) and slipped the puck past keeper TJ Cueno (Woodridge, Va./Woodridge) for his tenth tally of the season.

In the second period, Worcester State charged back, striking for two goals in the period and cutting the Falcon lead to only one. Senior Mark Rintel (Oakland Gardens, N.Y./Santa Fe Roadrunners) ignited the Lancers offense with his 12th goal of the season just 0:21 into the frame, while Justin Brownstein (Wyncote, Pa./Valley Forge Minutemen) added a tally at the 6:19 mark. The Falcons managed one score in the stanza as McCready completed his hat-trick to leave Fitchburg State up by one (3-2).

Throughout the third period, Fitchburg continued to pump its offense as the Falcons collected a pair of scores to secure their conference leading 17th victory of the season. Junior Billy Pescosolido (Framingham, Mass./Walpole Express) connected for his first score of the season and the eventual game-winner early in the period, while freshman John Vets (Hamden,  Conn./Hartford Jr. Wolfpack) capped the scoring with his team-leading 12th goal of the year.

The Falcons controlled the offensive tempo for much of the contest, boasting a 39-27 advantage in shots and 4-1 advantage in power-plays. Fitchburg State sophomore Bobby Leiser (Monroe, N.Y./New York Applecore) earned his ninth victory of the season with 24 stops in net, while Cueno stopped 34 shots for the Lancers.

Fitchburg State (17-4-1, 13-3-0 MASCAC) will hit the ice again on Thursday as it travels to Plymouth State at 6 p.m. Worcester State (5-15-2, 3-11-2 MASCAC) will travel to Westfield State College on Thursday at 7:35 p.m.

CLICK HERE FOR BOX SCORE & PLAY-BY-PLAY

Fitchburg State 5, Worcester State 3

Scoring
First Period: FIT: Kevin McCready (Justin Quinn, John Soroka), 1:09; FIT: McCready (Thomas McAleer, Chris Brecken), 4:33;
Second Period: WOR: Mark Rintel (Eric Rutz, Justin Brownstein), 0:21; FIT: McCready (McAleer), 5:41; WOR: Brownstein (Chris Wallin, Rintel), 6:19;
Third Period: FIT: Billy Pescosolido (Andrew Hutton, Chris Costigan), 3:39; FIT: John Vets (Costigan, Pat Dolan), 10:55; WOR: Brownstein (Rintel), 13:06;   
Goaltending: FIT: Bobby Leiser (60:00), 24 saves; WOR: TJ Cueno (59:24), 34 saveS
Shots: FIT: 39; WOR: 27