WESTFIELD, Mass. – Worcester State forward Brendan Ronan (Saugus, Mass.) scored a pair of third period goals as the Lancers tallied four goals in the final frame to down Westfield State 6-2 in a Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference matchup on Saturday night from Worcester, Mass.
The Owls fall to 12-8-1 on the season and 9-7-1 in the MASCAC. The Lancers improve to 6-15 overall and 5-12 in league action.
Westfield was fighting an uphill battle for the majority of the contest, erasing a pair of one goal deficits in the opening two periods with Cory Morris (Kahnawake, Quebec) tying the game midway through the second period with an assist coming off the stick of Devin Garnett (White Plains, N.Y.).
Four minutes after the Morris goal, the Lancers regained the lead with Cody Porcello (Melrose, Mass.) scoring his second goal of the season off an assist from Maxwell Tucker (Kalamazoo, Mich.).
29 seconds later, sophomore Ryan O'Halloran (Burlington, Mass.) found the equalizer, receiving a pass from Thomas Reilly (Foxboro, Mass.) for his fifth goal of the season as the two teams entered the second period with the game tied at two goals apiece.
In the third period, Worcester distanced themselves from Westfield with a pair of goals within the first 23 seconds of the period. Ronan got the scoring started followed by another tally by Matthew Kowal (Monson, Mass.) just five seconds later to quickly double up the Owls.
Ronan added a second tally for his eighth goal of the season, then Shane Prifrel (Inver Grove Heights, Minn.) collected another insurance goal for the Lancers to seal the victory.
The Owls comeback effort was thwarted in part to the play of Worcester goaltender Jakub Kubic (Uherske Hradiste, Czech Republic) who stopped all 17 shots faced in the final period as the junior finished with 32 saves on the night. Valtteri Valtonen (Helsinki, Finland) registered 26 saves for the Owls.
Westfield State will return home for their next game to host Framingham State on Thursday at 7:35 P.M. from Amelia Park Arena as the Owls have just four games remaining in the regular season before postseason play begins.