NORTH ADAMS, Mass. – Powered by a goal in each period, including two off the stick of sophomore winger
Tyler Stewart, the UMass Dartmouth men's hockey team posted a 4-2 win over Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (MCLA) in MASCAC action on Monday evening. The victory moves the Corsairs to 7-6-0 overall and 5-4-0 in conference play, while the Trailblazers are now 2-10-1 and 0-8-1 in the MASCAC.
The homestanding Trailblazers opened the game's scoring at 9:29 of the first as first year left wing Sean Neu buried a feed from classmate and right winger Christopher Gallagher past Corsairs goalie
Daniel Davidson. Senior defenseman Nathan Walerowicz earned the secondary assist on the play.
UMass Dartmouth responded less than two minutes later as rookie center
Collin Patterson centered a pass deep in the slot to Stewart for the equalizer at 11:02. Senior right wing
Billy McDevitt was credited with the second assist after a feed to Patterson from the right circle.
Both teams saw a number of chances over the remainder of the frame, including back-to-back shots from rookie winger
Alex Walker and grad student defender and captain
Jake Maynard in the final minute of the stanza, but MCLA goalie Mathew Gover held strong.
In the second period, the Corsairs had an outstanding chance to pull ahead as the Trailblazers took a penalty at 13:17. Despite four saved shots, including consecutive strikes from sophomore winger
Kevin Johnston, MCLA held it at 1-all.
The Corsairs finally broke through at 15:32 as sophomore left wing
Brandon Clark netted his first collegiate goal. Off the faceoff, the puck caromed around the back of the net, getting punched out to the high slot as sophomore blueline
Lane Ruffner fired a shot in on goal. Clark was there at the right post, burying the puck past Gover for the 2-1 advantage.
UMass Dartmouth countered just over three minutes later as grad student and right winger
Michael Perrone raced up the boards. He sent the puck over to Walker, who passed it to the middle as Patterson scored, sending the Corsairs into the intermission with a 3-1 lead.
The final period of play saw the Corsairs come out flying, peppering eight shots into the Trailblazers zone through the first four minutes of play. But the home team turned the tide, answering at 6:15 as rookie winger Luke Rhoss corralled a pass from Neu and banked it in off the post past Davidson to pull it to 3-2.
MCLA continued to press later in the frame as shots from rookie right wing Sean Schifferl, Neu and first year center Easton Moore were turned aside by Davidson over a four-second span at the 14:04 mark. The Trailblazers continued to fire shots in on goal as the Corsairs responded in kind with sophomore left winger
Vincent Nicosia driving home a shot that was turned aside by Gover at 17:41 of the frame.
The Trailblazers pulled Gover with 1:01 in favor of the extra attacker to try and knot the game at 3-3, but the Corsairs answered, taking advantage of the empty net as Stewart netted his second of the game at 19:05, assisted by senior center
Michael Mania and Patterson. MCLA pulled Gover once again with just over 30 seconds remaining, but UMass Dartmouth held strong for their fifth MASCAC win of the season.
Leading the Corsairs was Stewart, who netted two goals on the night. Patterson added a goal and two assists, while Clark had a goal. Four others recorded an assist. In goal, Davidson posted 31 saves, surrendering just two goals to the Trailblazers.
MCLA was paced by Neu, who had a goal and an assist. Rhoss also had a tally, while two others assisted. In goal, Gover recorded 35 saves in the loss.
The Corsairs return to action on Thursday, hosting Fitchburg State at Hetland Arena. Puck drop for the MASCAC tilt is slated for 4pm.
