Fitchburg State Soars Past Westfield State, 10-4
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | T | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Fitchburg St. (7-7-1;4-3-1) | 4 | 5 | 1 | 10 |
|
Westfield St. (9-6;4-4) | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
Snyder and DiNicola net two goals each in Falcons MASCAC victory
WESTFIELD, Mass. – Junior forward Cameron Snyder and freshman Nick DiNicola registered two goals each as the Fitchburg State ice hockey team defeated the Owls of Westfield State University in Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) action this evening at Amelia Park Ice Arena.
Fitchburg State opened the scoring at the 6:00 mark as DiNicola collected a feed from sophomore James Gordon in front of the net and wristed a shot inside the far post for his sixth tally of the season for the 1-0 lead.
The Owls knotted the score (1-1) roughly two minutes later when sophomore Lenny Caglianone fired a shot into the back of the net for his first goal on the year off an assist from freshman Wyatt Trumbley.
The Green and Gold regained the lead at the 13:06 mark as Snyder received a pass from seniors John Celli and Nat Rojas and deposited the puck into the left side of the net for his fourth score of the season for the 2-1 margin.
The Falcons upped its lead (3-1) 1:22 later when Celli tucked the puck inside the right post off an assist from Snyder for his seventh goal of the year before Rojas struck for his fourth marker of the 2015-16 campaign with just over five minutes remaining in the first period to take a 4-1 lead into the first intermission.
In the second period, Westfield State cut into the deficit just 31 seconds into the frame as senior forward Dalton Jay connected on his team-leading tenth goal on the season for the unassisted short-handed goal to make the score 4-2.
Fitchburg State (5-2) responded midway through the period when freshman Ricky Kramer registered his first collegiate tally off feeds from Celli and Snyder before DiNicola notched his second score of the contest as classmate Michael Fretz assisted on the play ten seconds later.
Following a goal by freshman Aaron Clancy, the Falcons quickly tacked on three more goals as Snyder posted his second tally of the contest at the 11:50 mark, while junior Mike Fish and senior Ryan Connolly connected on back-to-back scores 42 seconds apart to take a 9-3 advantage, en-route to the 10-4 final.
Throughout the contest, Fitchburg State and Westfield State each finished with 36 shot apiece, while the Owls went 0-for-7 with the man advantage. In goal, freshman Charles Jakobsson turned away 32 shots for the Falcons in the complete game effort, while junior Jonathan LoParco and freshman Jake Carter combined to make24 saves for Westifield State in the setback.
Fitchburg State (7-7-1, 4-3-1 MASCAC) returns to action on Saturday as it hosts the Lancers of Worcester State University for a contest starting at 4 p.m. Westfield State (9-6-0, 4-4-0 MASCAC) will visit UMass Dartmouth on Saturday at 4 p.m.