NEW BEDFORD, Mass. – Powered by two goals off the stick of sophomore winger
Tyler Stewart and a combined effort in goal from fifth year
Daniel Davidson and sophomore
Marshall McKallip, the UMass Dartmouth men's hockey team posted a 6-4 win over Fitchburg State in MASCAC action on Thursday evening. The victory moves the Corsairs to 8-6-0 overall and 6-4-0 in conference play, while the Falcons are now 7-5-2 and 6-2-2 in the MASCAC.
The homestanding Corsairs opened the game's scoring 1:31 into the game as sophomore
Tyler Stewart buried a feed from senior
Michael Mania. Senior
Billy McDevitt found Mania, who carried the puck into the FSU zone where he chipped it over to Stewart, who finished his first goal of the game. The Corsairs stretched their lead to two at the 11:39 mark, when senior
Zach Tarantino poked it up to sophomore
Kevin Johnston for the score. Fitchburg freshman Alexandre Bauvais tallied the Falcons' first score with less than a minute left in a period that the Corsairs finished with a 2-1 lead.
Leading 2-1 going into the second frame, UMass Dartmouth was the first to strike once again. Where a fight for the puck in front of the FSU goal resulted in three UMD shots. The first two shots from Stewart and Johnston were stopped by the goalkeeper, before the third shot from grad student
Jake Maynard was deflected by freshman
Nolan Wutzke into the back of the net for the lone score of the second period.
Trailing 3-1 entering the third period, the offense picked up for Fitchburg State. The Falcons scored the next two goals to tie the game up at 3-3 at the 5:30 mark. The FSU goal scorers were junior Michael Macchioni and sophomore Nolan Sargent.
The veterans on this UMass Dartmouth team stepped up in the last period with the score tied. With 9:32 remaining, graduate student
Michael Perrone separated the 3-3 tie with a strike from the left side of the net that found its way passed the FSU goaltender. The Corsairs were on a power play with 1:46 to go, when Mania sent a beautiful pass across the middle to Stewart on the right side of the net. Stewart deeked out the keeper and netted his second goal of the night to give the Corsairs a two-goal advantage.
Fitchburg State was able to keep it interesting with a late goal from Bauvais, his second of the night as well, with :47 left. The Falcons pulled their goalie to bring in an extra attacker, but a long, empty-net goal from UMD senior
Bryce Grennan put the game away, as the Corsairs took a 6-4 win over FSU.
Leading the Corsairs was Stewart, who netted two goals on the night. Mania and freshman
Alex Walker recorded two assists each. Johnston added both a goal and an assist. Davidson shut out the Falcons through eight minutes and recorded two saves before coming out of the game with an injury. McKallip earned the win with 36 saves through 52 minutes of action.
Fitchburg was paced by Bauvais, who had a two-goal performance of his own. Junior Toivo Kramer and freshman Adam Nedelka were each responsible for two assists on the night. Their sophomore goalkeeper Max Macchioni made 28 saves and recorded an assist in the loss.
The Corsairs return to action on Saturday, hosting Worcester State at Hetland Arena. Puck drop for the MASCAC tilt is slated for 5:30pm.
