Derek Serbon helped Worcester State to a win it hadn’t gotten since 1977.
Saturday in a MASCAC quarterfinal, Serbon scored the go-ahead goal at 7:28 of the second period to help the Lancers to a 4-1 win over Fitchburg State — Worcester State’s first playoff win in 35 years.
The last playoff win for the Lancers? Worcester State defeated Framingham State, 7-5, for the 1977 ECAC Division III tournament championship.
Worcester State, the fifth seed in the MASCAC playoffs, will face No. 1 Plymouth State at 6 p.m. Tuesday in a conference semifinal.
In the league’s second quarterfinal on Saturday, Mike Owens scored three goals to help No. 3 Massachusetts-Dartmouth to a 4-2 win over No. 6 Westfield State.
The Corsairs will face No. 2 Salem State at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the second MASCAC semifinal, and the winners of Tuesday’s games will meet Saturday for the MASCAC championship and an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III tournament.
ECAC Northeast
In the ECAC Northeast, the season continues for Western New England and Nichols.
Sophomore forward Dan Monahan scored at 11:08 of overtime to help the No. 4 Golden Bears defeat No. 5 Johnson and Wales, 2-1, on Saturday in a conference quarterfinal. Tim Carr, in goal in place of the injured Eric Sorenson, finished with 33 saves for No. 4 Western New England, including eight in overtime. Johnson and Wales goalie Matt Cooper finished with 47 saves
Western New England will face No. 1 Wentworth in a conference semifinal at 8 p.m. Wednesday in Boston. The Leopards and Curry, the top two seeds in the league, earned quarterfinal byes; Curry will host Nichols, the No. 3 seed in the conference tournament, at 7:35 p.m. Wednesday in the second conference quarterfinal.
Louie Educate scored two goals, including the game-winner with 2:43 left in the third period, and Zach Kohn scored his 100th career point as Nichols held off No. 6 Becker, 3-2. Educate, the ECAC Northeast rookie of the year, has a Division III-best 26 goals entering Wednesday’s semifinal against Curry.
The winners of Wednesday’s games will meet Saturday for the ECAC Northeast title and an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III tournament.
Astedt
— and in a funny moment for the MASCAC, Plymouth State goalie Jack Astedt *is* still enrolled at the New Hampshire school.
Last Thursday (Feb. 23), Astedt’s Twitter feed contained this post:
@jrastedt: Movin’ back to Sweden next week. Thanks for 3 lovely years y’all. Love you guys.
However, Plymouth State Coach Craig Russell, through sports information director Kent Cherrington, debunked any rumor of Astedt leaving school.
“We were just on the ice when that tweet went through, so someone must be writing stuff on his account,” Russell stated in an e-mail.
Astedt posted later in the day that someone had tampered with his Twitter account, and that he was not leaving Plymouth State.
