Owls fall to UMass Dartmouth, 4-1

Westfield, Mass- The Owls were unable to mark the win column in their 4-1 home loss to UMass-Dartmouth. UMass goaltender Daniel Davidson (Surrey, B.C.) played lights out, recording 34 saves on 35 shots, earning his fifth win of the season. Dartmouth improved to 8-6-1 on the season and 5-3-1 in the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference.

The Corsairs' first goal came in the fifth minute of the first period during a power play after a rebound deflected into the lap of Michael Mania (Bayville, N.J.), who finished it off.

Dartmouth tallied two more goals in the second period, the first by Melker Kroon (Malmo, Sweden) in the 18^th minute. The second score was created by a sharp pass across the crease from Austin Miller (Meridian, Idaho) that found the tape of Derek Britner (Salem, N.H.), leaving Brinter one on one with Valtonen. Kroon would go on to score his second goal of the game at 8:54 in the third period during a Corsair power play.

One of the bright spots for the Owls in this contest was goaltender Valtteri Valtonen (Helsinki, Finland), who had 46 saves on 50 shots.

Westfield's only goal came at 18:45 the third off a strike from sophomore defenseman Tom Sköld (Jarna, Sweeden), to break the shutout and tally his second goal of the season. Wyatt Lawrence (Sexsmith, Alberta) assisted the lone goal, for his fourth point of the year.

UMass trumped the Owls in shots on goal 50-35.

Westfield falls to .500 on the year at 7-7-2 overall (2-5-2 in conference play). The Owls will look to bounce back and make a playoff push starting with their next game against Framingham State on February 1 at Loring Arena. 

-- written by Evan Levrault, sports information intern