SOUTH BURLINGTON, Vt. – Freshman goaltender Josh Hillegas (Middleton, Wisconsin) earned the first shutout of his collegiate career making 28 saves, and four different players scored goals, to lead the University of Southern Maine Huskies to a 4-0 victory over the Saint Michael's College Purple Knights at Cairns Arena Saturday afternoon.

            With the win, Southern Maine splits its weekend road trip and evens its record at 2-2 both overall and in the ECAC Men's East.  Saint Michael's drops to 1-3 overall and 1-2 in the ECAC Men's East.

            After a scoreless first period, USM took a 1-0 lead 9:59 into the second period after junior Jamie Osborne (Grand Lake, N.S.) netted his second goal of the season off assists from senior David Nies (Brookline, Mass.) and junior Mike Greene (Arvada, Colo.). A little over three minutes later, junior Troy Thibodeau (Danvers, Mass.) scored his first goal of the season off assists from senior Matt MacDonald (Byfield, Mass.) and sophomore Brad McGovern (Haverhill, Mass.) to put USM up 2-0 at 13:07.

            McGovern also scored his first goal of the season, an unassisted goal, at 10:29 into the third period.  Senior Jon Grandinetti (Ottawa, ONT) joined Osborne by scoring his second goal of the season with four minutes remaining off assists from sophomores Stephen Gallo (Barnstead, N.H.) and Sam Guimond (Portland, Maine).

            Hillegas earned the win and is now 2-1 on the season.  Saint Michael's senior goaltender Eric McGuirk (Rehoboth, Mass.) made 23 saves in a losing effort.

            Southern Maine will return to action Friday when they travel to Biddeford to take on the University of New England Nor'easters in an ECAC Men's East Conference matchup at the Harold Alfond Forum (7:00 p.m.).