Owls Surrender Two Late Goals in Loss at Framingham

WESTFIELD, Mass. – Westfield State junior Valtteri Valtonen (Helsinki, Finland) registered 39 saves, but the Owls were unable to crack the scoreboard, falling 2-0 to Framingham State in a Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference game on Saturday night.

The Owls drop to 3-3 on the season and 1-2 in the MASCAC. Framingham improves to 3-3-1 overall and 2-2-1 in conference action.

The game was knotted in a scoreless tie into the final five minutes of regulation where Framingham struck for a pair of goals less than a minute apart. Sophomore Elijah Slagter (Willmar, MN) opened the scoring with a wrist shot that tucked inside the right post to put the Rams up a goal. Dylan Marty (New Richmond, WI) followed off a setup from Sam Larkin (Douglas, Mass.) to double the Framingham lead.

The Owls had a few prime opportunities to score, but the play of Rams goaltender Blake Carlson (Clermont, Fla.) denied those attempts. Midway through the second the Owls went on a 3-1 rush and Carlson made a diving save on the one-time shot from first-year forward Brett Williams (Middleboro, Mass.). Carlson made two more nice stops over the next couple minutes to keep the game scoreless.  

Westfield had another good look with about five minutes to play in the third but Carlson got a piece of it and it deflected off the post and the play was whistled dead after the goal was knocked loose.

Both goalies were sharp in the contest with Valtonen finishing with 39 saves and Carlson blanking the owls with a 44-save shutout.

Westfield State will travel to Stonehill for their next matchup on Tuesday with puck drop at 7:30 P.M.

(Parts of release courtesy of Framingham sports information)