Westfield State 5, Worcester State 3
Auburn, MA --- Westfield State Sophomore center Dennis Zak (Dover, NJ) recorded the game-winning goal lead the Owls, 5-3, past Worcester State this evening in men's ECAC Northeast ice hockey action this evening at Horgan Memorial Rink.
Winners of five straight, Westfield State improves to 6-1-1 and 5-1-1 in the ECAC Northeast while the Lancers drop to 3-6 and 1-4 in the league.
Worcester State broke into the scoring column first with two goals in the opening 12 minutes of the match on markers by junior Andy Orsini (Rochester, NY) and freshman Nick Asterito (Philadelphia, PA).
Westfield State responded at 13:37 on a power play goal by senior captain Jeff Chillson (Enfield, CT) and tied the game three minutes later on Dennis Zak's (Dover, NJ) team-leading 11th tally.
First-year Jordan Yindiphol (Redwood City, CA) sent in the go-ahead goal at 2:45 in the second stanza for his first goal of the season, but the Lancers responded when junior Lee Belisle (Chicopee, MA) scooped in the equalizer four minutes later on a feed from Orsini. Both team's had only one power-play each midway though the period, but neither squad could take advantage and ended the period with the score 3-3.
Zak broke the tie with his conference-best 12th marker to put the Owls on top with 6:48 remaining in the third. Worcester had two more power play chances to knot the score, but the Westfield State defense was just too good in behind their own blue line.
Junior Andrew Evans (Cromwell, CT) collected 41 saves between the pipes for the Lancers while his counterpart, sophomore Ray Monroe (Shrewsbury, MA), stopped 24 of 27 shots. Monroe also improved his record to 2-0-1.
Zak now has 19 points on the season while Chillson has 12 points - with an assist on the game-winner - which is good for third-best on the team. Orsini's goal in the first and helper in the second gives him a team leading 11 points.
WSC will end the semester with a 4:30 home match-up against Fitchburg State on Saturday while the Owls will face Framingham State tomorrow at 7:20 PM before visiting Salem State at 3 o'clock on Saturday.