NEW BEDFORD, Mass. – The Westfield State University hockey team suffered a 5-1 MASCAC loss to Umass. Dartmouth on Thursday evening, snapping the Owls five-game winning streak.
After a scoreless opening period, junior Steven Leonard (Rockaway Park, N.Y.) staked the host Corsairs (8-8-1, 5-4-1 MASCAC) to a 1-0 advantage on a power play goal with 3:45 remaining in the second stanza, and UMass Dartmouth extended that margin to 3-0 early in the final frame after senior Connor Court (Swansea, Ill.) and sophomore Patrick Wrenn (Charlestown, Mass.) each tallied in a 67 second span.
Kapossy's marker at the 4:58 mark of the period capped the hosts' four goal run, and after the visiting Owls (8-6-2, 5-4 MASCAC) got on the board just 1:14 later on freshman Justin Alves's (Woburn, Mass.) goal, the Corsairs capped the scoring on freshman Jimmy Pelton's (Syracuse, N.Y.) unassisted tally with 5:17 remaining to account for the final margin.
Senior Jonathan Ruiz (Williamstown, N.J.) collected a pair of assists in the triumph of UMass Dartmouth, which received single helpers off the sticks of junior Sean Leonard (Rockaway Park, N.Y.) and sophomore Eric Bolden (Oswego, Ill.). Sophomore Josh Boulos (Burlington, Mass.) and freshman Jake Ratcliffe (Canterbury, New Zealand) picked up assists on Alves' tally for Westfield State, as the hosts avenged a 2-1 setback to the visitors just two days ago on the Owls' home ice.
Sophomore Parker Butler (Summit, N.J.) picked up the win in goal for the Corsairs by stopping 24 of 25 shots faced on the evening, while junior Thierry Messervier (Montreal, Que.) made 33 stops in the setback for Westfield State. UMass Dartmouth outshot the Owls by a 38-25 margin and held a 39-27 edge in the face-off circle to move into third place in the league standings.
Westfield State will take to the ice again on Saturday, continuing MASCAC play as they travel to Worcester State to take on the Lancers at 5:40 p.m.
(Story courtesy of Jim Seavey, Umass. Dartmouth SID)