Fitchburg State Soars Past Westfield State, 7-4

Connolly nets two goals; Caveney tallies three assists in Falcons key MASCAC victory

FITCHBURG, Mass. (February 16, 2013) – Freshman Ryan Connolly (Wappingers Falls, N.Y./New York Applecore) registered a pair of goals to lift Fitchburg State over Westfield State, 7-4 in Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) action this evening at the Wallace Civic Center.

Fitchburg State opened the scoring at the 8:25 of the first period as freshman Timmy Genova (Smithtown, N.Y./New York Applecore) collected a loose puck in front of the cage and slide the puck into the net for his third marker of the year for the 1-0 advantage. Junior defenseman Shawn Bradley (Tewksbury, Mass./Central Catholic) and freshman forward Nat Rojas (Elkridge, Md./Washington Jr. Nats) assisted on the play.

Westfield State tied the score (1-1) midway through the frame when junior Vince Perreault (Braeside, ON/Kempville 73s) collected a rebound  of a shot from freshman Dalton Jay (Hamilton, ON/Hamilton Red Wings) and fired a shot into the upper left corner for his tenth score on the year.

The Owls grabbed the lead with just under a minute and half remaining in the stanza when sophomore forward Steve Evans (Kingston, ON/Wellington Dukes) blasted a shot into the back of net for the 2-1 lead, using feeds from freshman P.J. McCadden (Mount Sinai, N.Y./South Shore Kings) and junior Josh McCully (North Bay, ON/Motor City Metal Jackets).

In the second period, the Falcons knotted the score (2-2) at the 3:27 mark as freshman Max Lorenzen (Leesburg, Va./Valley Jr. Warriors) intercepted a pass and streaked down the left side of the ice and tucked the puck inside the right post for his 11th score on the season.

The Green and Gold regained the lead at the 7:06 mark when sophomore Sean Loebs (Cresskill, N.J./Connecticut Jr. Wolfpack) found the back of the net for his fifth tally off feeds from Lorenzen and senior Brett Provost (Ludlow, Mass./Connecticut Jr. Wolfpack) for the 3-2 margin before the owls knotted the score just before intermission on senior forward Lucas Romeo's (Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif./Pembroke Lumberkings) second marker of the season.

In the final period of play, Westfield State retook the lead six minutes into the frame as McCadden received a feed from Evans and struck for his tenth goal of the season to go up 4-3. The Falcons retied the score (4-4) at the 8:17 mark when freshman John Celli (Leominster, Mass./Valley Jr. Warriors) knocked home his tenth score of the season on feeds from classmate Nick Indelicato (Pembroke, Mass./Bridgewater Bandits) and senior Joseph Caveney (Fitchburg, Mass./New England Jr. Huskies).

The hosts took the lead for good at the 11:35 mark as Connolly blasted a shot into upper right corner of the net for his 16th of the year to go up 5-4. Fitchburg State upped its lead (6-4) less than three minutes later when Connolly connected for his second goal of the contest before senior forward John Soroka (Philadelphia, Pa./Philadelphia Little Flyers) added an empty netter, resulting in the 7-4 final

Throughout the match, Fitchburg State held a 40-29 margin in shots, while the Owls finished 1-for-3 with the man advantage. In net, junior Randy Wolcott (East Haven, Conn./Wisconsin-Stevens Point) posted 25 saves for the Falcons in the complete game effort, while sophomore Ian Perrier (Whitehorse, YT/Dryden Ice Dogs) stopped 33 shots for Westfield State in the setback.

Fitchburg State (10-12-2, 9-7-1 MASCAC) returns to action on Tuesday as it visits the Panthers of Plymouth State for a contest starting at 6 p.m. Westfield State (13-8-3, 9-6-3 MASCAC) will travel to Franklin Pierce University to take on the Ravens on Tuesday at 7 p.m.