BOSTON, Mass.—Junior Jack Riley (Wrentham, Mass.) scored twice and freshman Sam Best (Woburn, Mass.) made a career-high 30 saves, to lead UMass Boston men's hockey past New England College on Alumni Day.

THE BASICS

UMass Boston 4, New England College 1

(UMass Boston 10-8-1, NEHC 6-5-1)

(New England College 11-7-1, NEHC 8-5-0)

HOW IT HAPPENED

The Beacons scored the final four goals of the game to set a series of firsts this season. With the win, UMass Boston earned their first weekend conference sweep of the season and their first win over a top-three team in the New England Hockey Conference this year.

Riley scored two goals in less than six minutes in the first period to give the Beacons the lead for good.

Freshman Billy Grant (Mansfield, Mass.) and senior Nolan Redler (Winchester, Mass.) each added a goal apiece.

In net, Best stopped the final 27 shots he faced and made 14 saves in the second period and 12 more in the third.

Connor Inger scored the Pilgrims lone goal of the game, with Carlos Fornaris picking up an assist.

Senior goalie Anthony Pupplo took the loss after allowing four goals on 40 shots.

New England College came out firing to open the game. The Pilgrims recorded three shots in the first 90 second and made it 1-0 at 5:12. After Pupplo made a terrific stop on Redler on one end, Fornaris streaked into the zone and found a wide-open Inger in the slot for a one-timer goal.

UMass Boston answered back right away. Derek Caruso (Port Washington, N.Y.) and Riley passed the puck back-and-forth in the zone and then Riley skated behind the net and snuck in a wrap-around shot at 5:46.

The Beacons took control from there. UMass Boston outshot New England College 14-1 over the final 14+ minutes and took the lead at 11:04. With the Beacons on their first power-play of the day, Nick Albano (Beverly, Mass.) fed Chris Peters (Fairport, N.Y.) on the breakout and Riley snapped a one-timer past Pupplo off a perfect feed.

UMass Boston doubled their lead 76 seconds into the second. Joe Petruzzella (Scottsdale, N.Y.) fed Ryan Rowland (Manahawakin, N.J.) just inside the blue line and Grant redirected Rowland's wrist shot past Pupplo. 

New England College picked up their play in the period, but couldn't beat Best, despite 14 shots and several grade-A chances.

The Beacons put the game away 3:06 into the third period. After a turnover in the neutral zone, Redler and freshman Andy Walker (Mason, Mich.) played catch in the zone and after several whacks at the puck, Redler tipped the puck in amongst a scrum of bodies around the crease.

BY THE NUMBERS

• UMass Boston earned a 40-31 advantage in shots and a 35-31 edge in face-offs. The Beacons outshot the Pilgrims 22-5 in the first period.
• Riley has now recorded three multi-goal games this season and four for his career. He ranks seconds amongst all NEHC players with his 11 goals in conference games. 
• The Beacons finished 1-6 on the power-play, while New England College ended the day 0-4.
• Over his last three starts, Best is 2-1 and has made 70 stops on 75 shots (.933 save percentage).
• With the win, UMass Boston splits the season-series with New England College and improves to 20-33-2 all-time against the Pilgrims.
• UMass Boston improved to 10-0-1 when scoring four or more goals. This was their first win this season when scoring less than five goals.

WHO'S NEXT

UMass Boston will host NEHC league-leaders #2 Norwich University on Friday night at 7 p.m.