Carbone's Late Game-Winner Lifts Owls, 2-1

WESTFIELD, Mass. – JoJo Carbone (Marshfield, Mass.) netted the game-winning goal late in the third period and Valtteri Valtonen (Helsinki, Finland) made 46 saves as Westfield State got past UMass Dartmouth, 2-1 in a MASCAC hockey game at Amelia Park on Saturday evening.

Carbone's game winner came with 3:30 left in regulation time, as Kasper Korhonen (Helsinki, Finland) won a loose puc near the right face-off spot and centered the puck for Carbone's one timer.

 Westfield State improves to 4-4-1 overall and 2-3 in the MASCAC, while the Corsairs dip to 3-6-2 overall and 2-3-1 in the league.

 The Corsairs opened the scoring at 14:32 of the first period, taking advantage of a 5-on-3 power play, with Michael Perrone (Mt. Sinai, N.Y.) cashing in with assists from Tyler Stewart (Pittsburgh, Pa.) and Jake Maynard (St. John, Ind.) as they cycled the puck around, with Perrone firing from the right side.

 Westfield tied the game at 1-1 in the second, as Korhonen caught a pass behind the net and wrapped it around on the right side.

 Valtonen was huge in net for the Owls, particularly in the second period when he made 19 saves, including a spectacular stop on a 2v1 breakaway early in the period, sliding across and reaching back to his left to snare the puck.

 UMD's Daniel Davidson (Surrey, BC) was nearly as good in net, stopping 23 of 25 shots he faced, before coming off for the extra skater for the final 1:42 of the game.

 Westfield played its final home game before the semester break.   Westfield will next play a non-conference game at Rivier College in Nashua, N.H. on Tuesday evening.  The Owls will return to home ice at Amelia Park on January 12 to host Worcester State.