Lancers’ Third Period Comeback Falls Short of Win

WORCESTER, Mass. - Mike Kelly (Stoneham, Mass.) led UMass-Dartmouth to a 3-2 victory over the Worcester State Lancers Thursday night at the Hart Center while tallying a goal and an assist on the evening.

The first period brought the first goal of the game for the Corsairs. At 7:15, Kelly found a loose puck at the top of the faceoff circle and ripped a shot over the glove hand of Max Kirkwood (Brunswick, Ohio). UMass-Dartmouth held the 1-0 lead through the second and into the third period.

The third period was a goal clinic for both sides. The Corsairs opened up the scoring in the third when Casey Shea (Woburn, Mass.) netted his team's second goal of the game. At 11:30 of the period Worcester State got on the board with an absolute beauty from Marcus Mazur (Beverly Hills, Mich.) on the power play that brought Worcester with in one goal. Mazur found a rebound to the right of the Corsairs goal and quickly turned around and put the puck top shelf over UMass-Dartmouth's net minder, Drew Michals' (Newton, Mass.), shoulder.

Less than three minutes later UMass-Dartmouth once again extended their lead when Mike Restuccia (Malden, Mass.) was able to capitalize on a three-on-one. With the angle closing, Restuccia was able to back hand the puck into the far side of the goal mouth.

The Lancers started to claw back when Andrew Etheridge (Burrillville, R.I.) buried his one timer at 15:58 of the third. UMass-Dartmouth would hold on to keep their 3-2 victory.

Kirkwood had a stellar day between the pipes. The freshman net minder totaled 36 saves and made a few acrobatic sprawling stops to keep the Lancers in the game. Kirkwood made his best save of the game when he stoned a penalty shot to keep his Lancers from going down by two goals. The loss, however, gave Kirkwood a 2-12-1 record on the season.

The Corsairs goaltender, Michals, totaled 25 saves and his win improved his record to 6-8-3 on the season.

UMass Dartmouth will be back in action Saturday for a MASCAC matchup at Plymouth State for a 6:00 p.m. tilt. The Lancers are back in action Saturday at Framingham State in MASCAC matchup. Puck drop will be at 7:50 p.m.

Release written by Connor Haynes, Sports Information Intern