By Richard Tranfaglia
Framingham State won its MASCAC matchup against Fitchburg State by a score of 7-5 on Friday, Apr. 14.
Kimberly Foley struck first for the Rams to make it a 1-0 game.
The Falcons countered with two consecutive goals by Andrea Comeau and Kayla Panek to take a 2-1 lead.
About four minutes later, Grace Gamache tied the game at two, with Shae Riley assisting on the play.
The rest of the first half was a defensive struggle, until Nicole Pacheco got one pass Falcons goalie Marguerite Belcher to go up 3-2, just 49 seconds before half.
Coming out of the half, the Falcons’ Lia Crutchfield tied the game at three.
Gamache had the next three goals in the game, giving her a hat trick on the day and four goals in total.
Rebecca Fisher finally answered for the Falcons, to make it a 6-4 game.
The teams split a pair of goals in the last five minutes to reach the final margin. Pacheco scored for the Rams and Tracy Long got the goal for the Falcons.
Framingham outshot Fitchburg 24-14. Gamache led the Rams with 14 shots on net. Comeau led with three shots on goal for the Falcons.
Indigo Fox Tree-McGrath made eight saves for the Rams and Belcher made 16 stops for the Falcons.
The Rams improve to 7-5 on the season and 2-1 in the MASCAC.
The Rams dropped their game against Westfield State on Tuesday, Apr. 18, by a score of 13-8.
The Owls dominated the first half, outscoring the Rams 8-1 and outshooting them 20-10.
Alexa Tonelli had the first two goals of the game for the Owls.
The Rams only goal of the half came at the 24:50 mark by Audrey Duhaime.
Marissa Nimeskern responded a little over a minute later, extending the lead to two.
Tonelli achieved a hat trick at the 20:44 mark to make it a 4-1 game. She then scored another goal five minutes later, pushing the lead to four.
Nimeskern also got a hat trick in the first half, after scoring consecutive goals to make it a 7-1 game.
Hunter Zacharicz scored the eighth goal of the half for the Owls at the 3:10 mark.
The Rams scored a pair of goals coming out of the half, one by Gamache and the other from Pacheco.
Syd Lambert and Stephanie Godek answered by each scoring a goal of their own to push the lead to seven.
Pacheco and Gamache cut the lead to five after each contributing a score again.
Sam Donohoe and Lambert added to the Owls’s lead after each getting a tally.
Kristen Keenan got on the board for the Rams at the 10:37 mark.
Donohoe reached the final margin for the Owls with her second goal of the day.
Duhaime and Gamache each had a late goal to reach the final score.
The Owls outshot the Rams 33-20. Tonelli led the Owls with eight shots on goal, while Gamache led the Rams with six shots.
Tree-McGrath made 12 saves for the Rams in the loss and Maria Woodall made four saves for the Owls.
The Rams move to 7-6 on the season and 2-2 in the MASCAC.