Fitchburg State Muscles Past Ice Hockey, 5-3
Fitchburg, MA --- Despite a three point effort by junior Justin Brownstien and senior Mark Rintel, Worcester State dropped a tough 5-3 setback this evening to Fitchburg State in mens MASCAC ice hockey action.
Fitchburg State 5, Worcester State 3
FITCHBURG, Mass. (February 20, 2010) – Freshman Kevin McCready (Poughkeepsie, NY) registered his first collegiate hat-trick to lead Fitchburg State past Worcester State, 5-3 in MASCAC action this evening.
With the victory, Fitchburg State improves to 17-4-1 on the season and remains atop the MASCAC leader board with an incredible 13-3-0 mark and 26 points. Worcester State falls to 5-15-2 on the year and currently holds on to fifth place in the conference with a 3-11-2 mark.
Fitchburg State wasted no time in creating some offense as McCready kick started the night with his first score of the contest just 1:09 into the game. The sophomore forward took feeds from freshmen Justin Quinn (Braintree, MA) and John Soroka (Philadelphia, PA) to give the Falcons an early one goal edge.
McCready followed suit just three minutes later, closing out the first period scoring with his second marker of the contest. The first-year Falcon teamed up with sophomore Thomas McAleer (East Islip, NY) and senior Chris Brecken (Hudson, MA) and slipped the puck past keeper TJ Cueno (Woodridge, VA) for his tenth tally of the season.
In the second period, Worcester State charged back, striking for two goals in the period and cutting the Falcon lead to only one. Senior Mark Rintel (Oakland Gardens, NY) ignited the Lancers offense with his 12th goal of the season just 0:21 into the frame, while Justin Brownstein (Wyncote, PA) added a tally at the 6:19 mark. The Falcons managed one score in the stanza as McCready completed his hat-trick to leave Fitchburg State up by one (3-2).
Throughout the third period, Fitchburg continued to pump its offense as the Falcons collected a pair of scores to secure their conference leading 17th victory of the season. Junior Billy Pescosolido (Framingham, MA) connected for his first score of the season and the eventual game-winner early in the period, while freshman John Vets (Hamden, CT) capped the scoring with his team-leading 12th goal of the year.
The Falcons controlled the offensive tempo for much of the contest, boasting a 39-27 advantage in shots and 4-1 advantage in power-plays. Fitchburg State sophomore Bobby Leiser (Monroe, NY) earned his ninth victory of the season with 24 stops in net, while Cueno stopped 34 shots for the Lancers.
Worcester State remains in fifth place, just a point up on UMass Dartmouth for sixth.
With his three points tonight, Rintel now has 81 for his career which is good for 25th on the all-time scoring list. Rintel leads the squad with 28 points (12 goals - 16 assists).
Fitchburg State (17-4-1, 13-3-0 MASCAC) will hit the ice again on Thursday as it travels to Plymouth State at 6 PM WSC (5-15-2, 3-11-2 MASCAC) will travel to Westfield State College on Thursday at 7:35 PM.
Major Portions of Release Courtesy of Fitchburg State
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