Plymouth State Outlasts Worcester State on Senior Night

WORCESTER, Mass. —Plymouth State University's Andrew Wigg (Lantz, NS) led the Panthers with a goal and an assist to help defeat Worcester State 4-1 Saturday night at the Hart Recreation Center.

Before the first period the Lancers honored their seniors with a ceremony to thank them for their dedication and commitment to growing the hockey program at Worcester State. The seniors honored were Joe White (Wonder Lake, Ill.), Ryan Menard (Ashland, Mass), Nicholas Drill (Madison, Wis.), and Drew Case (Plano, TX).

The Panthers and Lancers battled for a fairly even first period. Neither team sustained any commanding pressure or created any serious goal scoring opportunities. With two minutes left in the period the Panthers would finally get on the board when Michael Economos (Crystal Lake, Ill) received a crisp pass from Tim Perron (Northborough, Mass) and skated into the Lancers zone. Economos skated in from the right side and fired a quick snap shot over the glove hand of Max Kirkwood (Brunswick, Ohio) into the top shelf. The 1-0 lead would continue into the third period.

The Panthers controlled the second period with a shot advantage of 13 to the Lancers five. Kirkwood kept the puck out of the net with some much needed timely saves. The deficit would grow, however, in the third period. About a minute and a half into the third period, Wigg received a pass from Josh Woody (Sunderland, M.D.) and was off to the races on a breakaway. With nobody to beat, the Panthers forward dragged the puck away from Kirkwood and was able to back hand the puck into the goal. The Lancers battled throughout the period and finally got on to the board 17 minutes in to the period with their goalie pulled. The Lancers took advantage of the extra skater when Marcus Mazur (Beverly Hills, Mich.) ripped a see-and-eye slap shot over the shoulder of Gordon Ceasar (Oak Park, Cal.). The goal pulled Worcester State within one goal. Though, Plymouth State would add two empty net goals from Ludvig Steenburg (Stockholm, Sweden) and Woody to come up with the 4-1 win.

Both goaltenders played exceptionally well as Kirkwood stopped 31-of-33 shots and Ceasar stopped 17-of-18 shots against him. The loss gave Kirkwood a record of 4-14-1 on the year and the win gave Caesar a record of 16-3-0 on the season.

Neither team scored on the power play as Worcester went 0-for-3 nor Plymouth went 0-for-7. Worcester State held the faceoff advantage winning 35 to Plymouth's 29.

With the win, Plymouth State improved to 19-4-1, 13-2-1 on the season and is back in action for a 6pm puck drop on Tuesday at home against Westfield State. The loss gave Worcester State a record of 6-17-1, 3-13-1 MASCAC on the season. The Lancers will finish out the regular season Tuesday when they travel to Salem State for a 7pm tilt.

Release written by Connor Haynes, Sports Information Intern