WESTFIELD, Mass. – Westfield State junior goalkeeper Valtteri Valtonen (Helsinki, Finland) posted a 43-save shutout to lead the Owls to a 4-0 victory over Fitchburg State in a Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference game from Amelia Park Arena in Westfield, Mass. on Saturday night.
The Owls improve to 7-9-1 overall and 4-7 in MASCAC play. The Falcons drop to 8-7-2 and 6-3-2 in conference action.
Westfield got on the board nine minutes into the game with Colin Roe (Boston, Mass.) settling a bouncing puck at his skates then firing a pass left-to-right to a streaking Cory Morris (Kahnawake, Quebec) who corralled the puck on his forehand, then wristed a quick shot past Falcons' goalkeeper Christopher Mattone (New Windsor, N.Y.) for the early lead.
The Owls doubled their lead in the closing minutes of the first period where Cullen Young (Maynard, Mass.) directed a feed to Julian Bosclair (Voorhees, N.J.) who ripped a shot to the upper-right corner of the goal to give Westfield a 2-0 advantage.
Westfield potted a pair of goals in the second period as Justin Collins (Wilmington, Mass.) won a puck battle by the boards, then shoveled a pass to Cooper Board (Salem, Mass.) who swiftly touched a pass back to Collins where he labeled a shot to the top left of the net for his third goal and 10th point of the season.
Young collected his second point of the night in the waning minutes of the second frame, scoring his first goal of the season on the power play to put the game out of reach.
Valtonen (W, 6-9-1) was strong between the pipes all game long, and the Helsinki native was particularly dominant in the second period where he held off a 19-shot onslaught from Fitchburg to keep the Falcons off the scoreboard. It was the sixth time this year Valtonen has saved 40 or more shots on goal in his 16th start for the Owls.
Mattone (L, 1-3) registered 34 saves on 38 shots for the Falcons.
Westfield State, who has won two of the last three games, travels to Post University on Tuesday for a non-conference game with a start time of 8:00 P.M. Fitchburg State returns home to host Worcester State in a MASCAC game on Thursday at 6:30 P.M.