Falcons Advance To MASCAC Championship Game With 5-2 Win Over Salem State

Figi nets hat trick In Falcons MASCAC semifinal round win

Fitchburg, Mass. – The second seeded Falcons of Fitchburg State University defeated the sixth seeded Vikings of Salem State University, 5-2 in semifinal round action of the 2018 Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) post-season tournament this evening at the Wallace Civic Center

The Basics

Score: Fitchburg State 5, Salem State 2
Records: Fitchburg State (17-6-3)| Salem State (10-12-5)

How It Happened

Fitchburg State opened the scoring at the 11:52 mark of the first period as freshman Sascha Figi (Kloten, Switzerland) collected a feed from sophomore Tyler Warila (Shirley, Mass.) and junior Nick DiNicola (Wolcott, Conn.) before finding the back of the net for his team-leading 19th tally on the season for the 1-0 advantage.

In the second stanza, the Falcons doubled their lead (2-0) at the 12:02 mark when Figi struck for his second marker of the contest off assists from senior James Gordon (Hingham, Mass.) and junior Christopher Vicario (Cranston, R.I.).

Salem State knotted the score at 2-2 late in the frame as senior Daniel Campbell (Waterloo, Ont.) connected on his fourth marker of the year at the 16:06 mark before classmate Ryan Wilkerson (Burlington, Ont.) buried a shot top shelf off a rebound from senior Derek Makimaa (Swartz Creek, Mich.).

In the final period of play, the Green and Gold broke the 2-2 stalemate at the 15:46 mark Figi connected on his third tally of the game with assists from Gordon and DiNicola to make the score 3-2.

Fitchburg State secured the win at the 18:29 mark as senior Corey Hayashi (Toronto, Ont.) found the back of the net for his fourth score of the 2018 campaign, while junior Ricky Kramer (Barnstead, N.H.) added an empty netter for the hosts with 16 seconds left in the contest, resulting in the 5-2 final.

Inside the Numbers

51st meeting between the two schools in ice hockey with the Falcons 10-36-5 all-time when taking on the Vikings.

Fitchburg State is unbeaten in the last four contests against Salem State (3-0-1), including a 3-2 triumph (2/15/18) in the last meeting at the Wallace Civic Center.

Falcons finished with a 35-27 advantage in shots.

Fitchburg State finished 3-for-5 on the power-play, while Salem State went 0-for-2 with the man advantage.

Junior Kirby Saari (Cape Elizabeth, Maine) finished with 25 saves for the Falcons in the complete game effort.

Senior Jason Pucciarelli (Newmarket, Ont.) stopped 30 shots for the Vikings in 59:27 minutes of action.

Up Next

Falcons advance to the 2017-18 MASCAC Championship game and will host the Corsairs of UMass Dartmouth on Saturday for a contest starting at 7:30 PM. Vikings conclude their season with an overall record of 10-11-5 and a 6-9-3 clip in conference play.