WESTFIELD, Mass. – Westfield State junior forward Cory Morris (Kahnawake, Quebec) and senior forward Mathieu Jones (Gatineau, Quebec) scored the first two goals of the game, but Fitchburg State countered with five unanswered goals to down the Owls 5-2 on a Thursday night from Fitchburg, Mass.

The Owls raced out to a 2-0 lead midway through the first period as Morris jumpstarted the scoring by collecting a rebound in front of the Falcons' net and then depositing the puck top shelf for his first of the season.  Westfield doubled the advantage just four minutes later, when Kasper Korhonen (Helsinki, Finland) found Jones open on the weak-side for the score.

The Falcons battled back with a power-play tally from senior Wyatt Wilmshurst (Massena, NY) at the 13:47 mark. Sophomore Christian Halbig (Queenstown, MD) knotted the score just two minutes later with his second goal of the season.

Fitchburg State (4-2-2, 2-1-2 MASCAC) took their first lead of the game in the second period. Sophomore Michael Macchioni (North Kingstown, RI) threaded a pass from the blue line to classmate Toivo Kramer (New York, Mass.) for a backhander past Owls goaltender Valtteri Valtonen (Helsinki, Finland) for the 3-2 advantage. Michael Macchioni extended the Falcons' lead (4-2) with a power play tally at 14:55.

Senior Hunter Fortin (Westerville, Ohio) added an empty-net goal for the Falcons in the third period resulting in the 5-2 final.

The Falcons were opportunistic on the man-advantage, scoring on two of their four chances on the evening. Westfield was unable to find the back of the net on four tries on the power play.

Fitchburg held a 40-27 shot advantage on the night, with Valtonen registering 35 saves on 39 shots faced.  Max Macchioni (North Kingstown, RI) posted 25 saves in the victory for the Falcons.

Westfield State (3-4-1, 1-3 MASCAC) returns home to face UMass Dartmouth in their next game on Saturday at 5:35 P.M. from Amelia Park Arena in Westfield, Mass.

Parts of release courtesy of Fitchburg State sports information