WORCESTER, Mass. – The Worcester State University Lancers registered their second shutout thus far this season with a 2-0 slate over the Western New England Golden Bears Thursday (Nov. 5) evening at the Hart Recreational Center on the campus of Holy Cross. All of Worcester State's goals and assists were made by a group of six freshmen on the squad.

With the win, the Lancers improve to 2-1-1 on the season, while the Golden Bears drop to 0-2-0 to begin the 2015-16 hockey season.

The first period was a scoreless one, as each team just about had evenly dispersed shots on goal. Though, the second period was Worcester State's as freshman forward John Skarlis (Waterloo, Iowa) scored the Lancers' game-winning goal in the fourth minute as he beat his defender on the right side and found a spot in the goal. The goal was assisted by freshman defender, Cody Weaver (W. Greenwich, R.I.) and freshman forward, Andrew Etheridge (Burrilville, R.I.).

With the momentum up high for the Lancers, they were able to put another puck in the net as freshman forward Patrick Germain (Auburn, Mass.) upped the score to 2-0 at 13:55 on assists from freshman forward Mitchell Purdie (Cavan, Ont.) and freshman forward Marcus Mazur (Beverly Hills, Mich.).

The score remained 2-0 throughout the third period, as the Golden Bears had a couple chances to thin the margin in that period. Worcester State was called on three minor penalties in the 5^th, 9^th, and 17^th minutes for power play opportunities. Also, within the last minute of play, Western New England released their goalie to add an extra player on the ice, and fired off multiple shots.

Though, Worcester State's sophomore goalie, Tyler Fallica (Coram, N.Y.) stopped every shot that came to him and recorded his first shutout of the season with 32 saves.

In the goal for the Bears, was senior Austin Keiser (Danwoody, Ga.) who recorded his first loss of the season, registering 27 saves on the night.

Despite the loss for Western New England, they held the shot advantage to a close 32-29 over the Lancers.

Western New England's senior forward, Chris Lembo (Southington, Conn.) and the Lancers' Germain had the game-high five shots on the night.

Worcester State will travel to Framingham State next Thursday for a Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference game, while Western New England will travel to Wentworth this weekend (Nov. 7) for a non-conference matchup starting at 5 p.m.