Luke LaFata scored three goals, and Farmingdale State College beat West Chester University 8-1 on Friday night at Twin Ponds Arena. Farmingdale State improved to 2-0-0, while West Chester fell to 0-1-0 in its season opener.
Tyler Wodicka opened the scoring with 4:09 left in the first period, finishing a play set up by Donald Pace and Jackson Tomforde. Farmingdale State then scored five times in the second period. LaFata, who had no points in his first game of the season, scored with 17:07 left and again with 12:52 remaining, with Noah Lavoie assisting on both goals.
Luke Ferazi, Damien Hogan and Tierny Recenello followed with goals later in the second period. Recenello’s unassisted goal with 5:16 left made it 6-0. Recenello entered the night with three points in one game and added a goal and an assist. LaFata completed his hat trick on a power play with 11:23 left in the third, assisted by Christopher D’Andrea and Lavoie, who finished with three assists.
West Chester avoided the shutout when Owen Myers scored a short-handed goal with 3:41 remaining, assisted by Ryan Dematteo. Myers also picked up 12 penalty minutes, including a 10-minute unsportsmanlike conduct misconduct. D’Andrea closed the scoring with 1:33 left, finishing with a goal and an assist.
Luke Pavone made 23 saves on 24 shots to earn the win for Farmingdale State. Chris Davis made 42 saves on 50 shots for West Chester, which was outshot 50-24. Farmingdale State will look to stay unbeaten, and West Chester will seek its first win of the season.
