FITCHBURG, MA - Kyle Schoppel (Cambridge, Ontario/Kitchener Dutchmen) second power play goal of the night helped Amherst College earn a 3-3 tie with host Fitchburg State College Friday night in a non-conference game at Fitchburg State's Wallace Civic Center. The Lord Jeffs move to 3-2-2 on the season while the Falcons also picked up their second tie of the young season (5-3-2).
The Lord Jeffs got on the board first 5:27 into the opening period on a 4-on-4 tally by Jason Degiovanni (Brooklyn, NY/St. Paul's School) that beat the FSC goaltender Devan McConnell (Lake Stevens, WA/St. Louis Jr. Blues) to the far lower post. Rob Stevenson (Newton, MA/Walpole Stars) assisted on the goal that gave the visitors a 1-0 advantage.
The Falcons retaliated with 8:39 to play in the opening stanza on Stephen Schofield's (Valley Villiage, CA/Bay State Breakers) 100th career point. Schofield received a pass from Chris Riggs (Sewell, NJ/Ft. Vancouver Pioneers) and put the puck in the top shelf to tie the game at 1-1. John Goffredo (Washingtonville, NY/Boston Harbor Wolves) was credited with the second assist.
The game went into the middle stanza tied at 1-1, but things did not stay that way for long as the visitors took advantage of a power play to take a 2-1 lead 6:19 into the second. The goal was scored by Schoppel with assists to Keith Nelson (Manalapan, NJ/Green Mountain Glades) and Jeff Landers (Hanover, MA/Deerfield Academy).
Andrew Hutton (Brewster, MA/Boston Harbor Wolves) had a terrific chance to knot the score once more halfway through the second but his shot from deep in the slot with Amherst netminder A.J. Scola (Holden, MA/Phillips Exeter Academy) dead to rights rang off the far post preserving the 2-1 Amherst lead into the final 20 minutes of play.
However, the Falcons and Schofield wasted little time tying the game in the third. Schofield netted the game-tying tally on the power play just 29 seconds into the third assisted by Matt Arsenault (Gardner, MA/Gardner) and Goffredo.
The Lord Jeffs had a golden opportunity as an FSC player was whistled for a five-minute major for boarding with just under 11 minutes left in the game but could not capitalized. Matt Arsenault (Gardner, MA/Gardner) responded for the Falcons with 4:16 to play assisted by Hutton, but the Lord Jeffs knotted the game at 3-3 when Schoppel put home his second power play tally of the night set up by Joel Covelli (Carlisle, Ontario/Colby College) and Brendan Powers (Walpole, MA/Roxbury Latin).
McConnell turned away 31 shots in the game while Scola made 19 saves in goal for the Lord Jeffs.
