GORHAM, Maine – Three straight goals in the first 27 minutes gave the Huskies of the University of Southern Maine the edge as they handed women's ice hockey a 4-2 New England Hockey Conference loss Friday afternoon at the USM Ice Arena.

THE BASICS

UMass Boston 2, U. of Southern Maine 4

UMass Boston (1-3-1, 0-3-0 New England Hockey Conference)
U. of Southern Maine (2-3-0, 2-1-0 New England Hockey  Conference)

HOW IT HAPPENED

The Huskies got on the scoreboard in the first five minutes of Friday's conference game with Shannon Colbert scoring an unassisted marker.  Julianne Nelson then made it 2-0 game four minutes later to give USM the early advantage on the scoreboard.

Southern Maine would control the momentum in the opening frame as they outshot the Beacons 8-6.  However, UMB responded aggressively in the second period, as the offense came out firing.  Unfortunately, the Huskies were able to put a third dent on the scoreboard thanks to a Katie Nolan unassisted goal at the 6:44 mark.  It would take the Beacons eight minutes before they ended the Huskies shutout bid, with Mia Sacco (Plymouth, Mass.) scoring her first collegiate goal.  Rae Lambert (Medway, Mass.) picked-up her first collegiate point with the assist.

Now trailing by two the Beacons tried break through again, but were denied by USM's Whitney Padgett.  After the second intermission, UMass came within in one tying their longtime rivals as Erica Lunn (Kingston, Mass.) scored on the power-play at the 5:02 mark thanks to an assist from Jane Ann Drill (Madison, Wis.).

Just like the second, the Beacons offense peppered the Huskies defense, but were stopped cold by Padgett for the second straight period.  Nelson would find the back of the net one more time to give USM their comfortable two-goal lead and the win.

BY THE NUMBERS

• On the night the Beacons finished 1-for-5 on the power-play, while the penalty kill held USM scoreless on three chances
• The Beacons outshot Southern Maine 38-23
• Friday's loss went to Olivia Petito (St. Augustine, Fla.) who made her 2019-20 debut against USM
• Whitney Padgett improved to 2-3-0 between the pipes for the Huskies
• All-time the Beacons are 20-8-2 against Southern Maine, but are 0-2-1 in their last three meetings

WHO'S NEXT

The Beacons will host Suffolk University tomorrow at 4 p.m. in an NEHC contest.  The Beacons will also be hosting their annual Pink the Rink event with all proceeds from the game going to breast cancer research and awareness.