BOSTON, Mass.—Tim Searles' goal 4:13 into the third period held up, to help #7/9 Babson College earn a 3-2 win over #5/8 UMass Boston men's hockey Friday night at the Beacons Ice Arena.

THE BASICS

#7/9 Babson College 3, #5/8 UMass Boston 2

(UMass Boston 12-3-1, NEHC 8-1-0)

(Babson College 11-3-2, NEHC 7-1-1) 

HOW IT HAPPENED

In one of the most exciting and physical games of the year thus far, Babson College and UMass Boston went back-and-forth for 60 minutes. The Beavers raced out to a 2-0 lead in the opening 25 minutes, only to have the Beacons even the score early in the third. 

Babson retook the lead 3:30 later, when Searles scored his fifth goal of the season off a strong rush out of the Beavers zone.

Senior Frankie DeAugustine (Pittsburgh, Pa.) and Tyler Bishop (Ramsey, N.J.) each found the back of the net for the Beacons.

In net, Billy Faust (Alta Loma, Calif.) went toe-to-toe with All-American Jamie Murray, by making 37 saves. The senior stopped 15 shots in the first and 13 more in the second, as he often found himself in difficult one-on-one situations in tight. 

Murray continues to be the Beacons' kryptonite, as he made at least 11 saves in every period and finished with 36 for the game. He improved to 6-2-0 against the Beacons in his career with the win. 

Freshman Tommy Munichiello scored the first two goals of the game for the Beavers, who snapped a three-game winless streak with the victory. 

Babson came out firing in the first period, as they were doubling up the Beacons in shots for most of the first 20 minutes. The Beavers finally broke the scoreless draw at 14:23, when Faust gloved down a bullet from the point off the stick of Jake Donahue, but Faust couldn't hold onto the puck. With a slew of players swatting at the puck, Munichiello lifted a backhand into the empty net for a 1-0 lead. 

The freshman added a second tally at 5:49 of the second period on the power-play. Once again Municiello had a crack at an empty net, after a bizarre bounce. Faust stopped a shot from the far side and had it go off the bar and back to the near side, with Munichiello using a baseball swing to bat it home. 

UMass Boston finally grabbed the momentum after Brett Mason (Rowley, Mass.) was called for a five-minute major on a big hit.

With Babson looking to put the game away, senior Alex Demchuk (Calgary, Alberta) drew an interference call to put the teams back to even strength. Less than a minute later, Bishop got in close on Murray and lifted a shot over his shoulder, to cut the deficit to 2-1 at 13:07. Sophomore Colin Larkin (Waterford, Mich.) was credited with an assist on the play. 

The Beacons found the equalizer 45 seconds into the second, with a power-play goal of their own. Matt Lemire (Townsend, Mass.) tipped the puck forward to Garrison Sanipass (Northbrook, Ill.) and Sanipass skated all the way around behind the net, before leaving a centering pass for DeAugustine. DeAugustine roofed a slapshot home to tie the game at 2-2.

Babson grabbed the momentum right back though, with Searles' goal coming at 4:13. Rob Devaney raced into the zone and sent a pass across for Searles, who's wrister just trickled off the glove of Faust and in.

The Beacons had two great chances to take the lead, but Demchuk tipped a Bishop shot off the crossbar and Bishop hit the bar moments later from the near circle.

BY THE NUMBERS

• Babson ended the game with a 40-38 advantage in shots.
• All of the other numbers were extremely close as well, as both teams went 38-of-76 in the face-off circle and 1-of-4 on the power-play.
• Larkin improved his career totals against the Beavers to four goals and two assists in four games.
• With the win, Babson moved to within one point of UMass Boston in the NEHC standings. 

WHO'S NEXT

These two teams will play again on Saturday at 4 p.m., when the Beacons travel to the Babson Skating Center.