Lancers Shutout Rams in Women's Ice Hockey Semifinal Action

Worcester, MA- In the second season of the MASCAC Women's Ice Hockey Championship, the #1 Worcester State Women's Ice Hockey team (16-9, 10-2) was again hosting a MASCAC semifinal game at the Fidelity Bank Worcester Ice Center. Last season the Lancers fell to Rivier, who had previously defeated Framingham State in their quarterfinal meeting. This year the #5 Rams (5-20-1, 1-11) would advance to their first conference semifinals after upsetting the #4 seeded Anna Maria Wednesday night in a decisive 6-2 victory. 

Final

Framingham State: 0

Worcester State: 4

How it Happened:

The first period would see both teams come out with strong defensive attacks. The Lancers would get more opportunities in the Framingham zone but sophomore Lily Chamoun (Milton, MA) would bring her A game early on in the contest. Worcester would be able to strike as junior Fiona Hatton (Homer, AK) would find the back of the net to give the Blue and Gold the 1-0 lead. The Rams would have a chance late in the period but, like Chamoun, senior Kelsey Czerniawski (Chicopee, MA) would hold it down to bring the game to the intermission up 1-0.

The second period would see the Lancers dominate the offensive attack but Chamoun would hold her ground against the Blue and Gold. Worcester would find the net again as sophomore Avery Ireland (Longmeadow, MA) would get a bounce off a Ram skate to give Worcester a 2-0 lead. Both teams would be quiet offensively as Chamoun would have the most action defensively having 30 saves through 40 minutes of action while Czerniawski would hold 14 saves as the Lancers would lead 2-0 going into the third.

Third period would be both teams quiet offensively with few  chances toward the net initially, but Czerniawski and Chaumon would continue their stellar evenings holding down the net early on into the period. The Blue and Gold would find the open opportunity to strike and would do it twice in a span of 42 seconds as the first one would be sophomore Leyla Tiernan (Anchorage, AK) with Ireland on the assist and then first year Lindsay Wagner (Waterbury, VT) would fire one past with sophomore Emily Curran (Fall River, MA) assisting that goal to expand the lead 4-0. The fireworks for the Lancers would peter out as the Rams would come back on the defensive end and finish strong. Framingham would nearly break the Czerniawski shut out with three minutes to go, but after further review from the officials it was determined that the puck never completely crossed the line to maintain the 4-0 Lancer lead. The Blue and Gold would hold it down after the review and win 4-0 advancing to the MASCAC Championship.

What's Next:

With tonight's victory the Lancers (17-9, 10-2)  advance to the MASCAC Championship which will be hosted by Worcester State on Friday, March 6th at 7:20pm when they face off against the Rivier Raiders.