School Name Goes Here

Salem, Ma -- Andrew Eriksen scored two goals and had an assist as the Plymouth Sate Panthers held on for a thrilling 9-8 overtime victory over the Salem State Vikings at Alumni Field on Saturday evening.

Eriksen scored twice in the opening period as Plymouth State raced out to a 4-0 lead and built a 5-0 lead early in the second period only to see Salem State battle back before losing a heartbreaker in overtime.

Matt Johansmeyer opened up the scoring for Plymouth State forty six seconds into the game followed by Eriksen's first goal to give the Panthers a 2-0 lead. Akriviellis scored the third goal for Plymouth State at the 6:13 mark and Eriksen added his second to increase the lead to 4-0 at the end of one.

The Panthers dominated play in the opening period outshooting Salem State 10-4. Andrew Kirwin added the fifth unanswered goal at 12:42 of the second quarter to give the Panthers a commanding 5-0 lead.

However, Salem State did not quit and rallied with four straight goals to gain momentum and reduce the halftime deficit to just one goal at 5-4. Turning the tables, the Vikings fired off 12 shots to just six for Plymouth State in the second quarter. Justin Jones and Robert Mulroy scored for the Vikings before Jonathan Falls notched the first of his three goals to make the score 5-3. Matt Cordero on an assist from Falls cut the lead to 5-4 just before the half.

Falls who also had two assists drew the Vikings to within 6-5 midway through the third period. The Vikings finally took the lead 7-6 on Falls' 19th goal of the year. Matt Johansmeyer tied the game again at 7-7 before Jones netted his second goal of the game at the 7:50 mark of the fourth period to give Salem State a 8-7 lead.

It looked as if that goal would be the game-winner until Mike Ventura scored for Plymouth State with just ten seconds remaining to force the extra period.

Teddy Akriviellis connected just thirty two seconds into the period to thwart the comeback bid by the Vikings and secure Plymouth State's first conference win of the year.

Salem State dropped to 6-5 and 1-2 in conference, while Plymouth State improved to 4-6 and 1-2 in the Little East.

Kevin Hayes made seven saves to earn the win and Brendan Gill countered with 12 saves for the Vikings in the loss.

Salem State led in shots 30-34, but converted just 2-of-9 power play opportunities.

Salem State is back in action on Tuesday, April 20th when they travel to Western Connecticut for a 7:00 PM match. Plymouth State will host Southern Maine in a Little East contest on April 20th beginning at 4:00 PM.