Owls Pounce on Greyhounds for 4-3 Win

WESTFIELD, Mass. – Junior forward Colin Roe (Boston, Mass.) capped a three-goal first period for Westfield State and Esteban Gauthier (Sainte-Julie, Quebec) collected a staggering 57 saves in his first collegiate start as the Owls defeated Assumption University 4-3 victory in a non-conference game on Thursday night from Worcester, Mass.

The Owls improve to 5-6 on the season while the Greyhounds drop to 7-7 overall.

After being shut out the last two games, Westfield found their scoring touch early with three different Owls finding the back of the net in the opening 20 minutes. The first of the three came eight minutes into the game as Christopher Miraldo (Montreal, Quebec) tallied his fifth goal of the season to give the Owls a 1-0 lead.

Two minutes later, Assumption tied the game at one goal apiece with Patrick McKiernan scoring on a feed from Ryan Decker.

Westfield closed the first period strong, totaling two goals over the final 5:09 of the opening period. Cooper Board (Glen Ellyn, Ill.) tallied his team-leading sixth marker of the season to put the Owls in front 2-1, then with 4:02 left before the intermission, Roe took a pass from Chase Parry (Pittsburgh, Penn.) to stretch the lead to two goals at the end of the first.

Midway through the second period, Brett Williams (Easton, Mass.) was the fourth different Owls player to score, increasing the Westfield advantage to three goals where the Owls would carry a 4-1 lead into the third period.

Declan Chapman found the back of the net for Assumption with 10:57 left in the game to make it a 4-2 contest. With 2:33 remaining in the game, an Owls penalty initiated a Greyhounds power play and with 31 seconds left in the man-advantage, Jonathan Surrette cut the deficit to one goal for the Greyhounds.

Assumption pulled goalkeeper Michael Hauswirth for an extra skater with one minute left in the game with Gauthier making consecutive saves within the final ten seconds of the game before Board blocked a final shot attempt to seal the win.

Starting in his first regular season game of his collegiate career, Gauthier picked up his first win in emphatic fashion after registering 57 saves on 60 Greyhounds' shots. In the third period, Assumption outshot the Owls 28-4 with Gauthier racking up 26 saves in the frame alone to hold off a Greyhounds comeback effort. On the night, Assumption held a 60-31 shots lead.

Westfield State will play their next game in the year 2025 as the Owls will visit Framingham State on Thursday, January 8 at 7:40 P.M.