Fitchburg State Defeated by Corsairs on Senior Night, 5-3

Connolly has two goals and one assist in Falcons setback

FITCHBURG, Mass - Fitchburg State University fell to University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth, 5-3, despite outshooting the Corsairs 53-37 in a Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletics Conference (MASCAC) men's hockey contest on Tuesday evening at the Wallace Civic Center.

With the loss the Falcons finish the regular season with a 10-12-3 (8-8-2 MASCAC) record, while UMass Dartmouth improves to 7-15-3 and 6-9-1 in conference play.

The Corsairs were able to get on the board first with 9:48 remaining in the opening period, as sophomore forward Tanner Zacharewicz received a pass from Garrett Allen and proceeded to take a one-timer from atop the faceoff dot, beating senior netminder Ryan Wysocki on the top right corner just above his blocker.

With 56 seconds left in the period the Green & Gold capitalized on a rebound opportunity to bring a 1-1 tie into the first intermission. Junior forward Paul Falanga picked up the lose puck just outside the Corsairs crease for his fifth goal of the year, assisted by classmate Ryan Connolly and sophomore Jon Johannesson.

In the second period the away side capitalized on a power play opportunity two minutes in, scoring the first of three goals in the stanza on a shot from the point by sophomore forward Mike Kelly, assisted by freshman forward Casey Shea.

UMass Dartmouth's second tally of the period came at the 5:41 mark as Shea beat a Falcon defender and slipped the puck past Wysocki, with junior forward Brandon Gilmore and freshman defenseman Jerry Laakso being credited with the helpers. Less than a minute later however the hosts responded when Connolly picked up a rebound on a Falanga shot, with Johannesson also being credited with an assist.

The Corsairs scored their third goal of the second period with three seconds on the clock when Shea picked up the loose puck just inside his defensive zone and went on a 1-0 breakaway to get the last second marker, taking a 4-2 advantage into the second intermission.

The Falcons had a 5-3 power play opportunity midway through the third but were unable to get any quality scoring chances on the two-man advantage.

With 2:10 remaining in the game the hosts cut the deficit to one goal on a tip-in by Connolly on a shot from the point by junior defenseman Mike Morrison on a feed across the blue line from Falanga.

Despite a valiant effort with an empty net in the final minute of play that included numerous scoring chances, Fitchburg State were unable to capitalize and the Corsairs added an empty-netter with 23 seconds remaining by freshman Jaret Babych.

Fitchburg State held a 53-37 advantage in shots in the losing effort and went 0-3 on power play opportunities, while UMass Dartmouth was 1-3 on man-up advantages.

Wysocki made 32 saves in the loss, while his counterpart JJ Solloway had 50 saves in the victory for UMass Dartmouth.  

Prior to the start of the contest the seven Fitchburg State seniors were recognized along with their families including: Dan Finn, Craig Halpin, Sean Loebs, Brett Nussbaum, Thomas Carlow, Kevin Holmes, and Wysocki. Senior student-trainer's assistant Sierra Santos was also recognized for her contributions to the program over the four years as well.

Both teams await the final seeding for the MASCAC Tournament, which will begin with first round action on Saturday.