GORHAM, Maine -- Junior Andrew Bonazza (Dartmouth, N.S.) scored a pair of goals to help #5/6 Babson College defeat the University of Southern Maine 5-2 in ECAC Men's East action Friday evening at the USM Ice Arena.

            The win lifts the Beavers overall mark to 9-1 on the season and 5-0 in league play.  The Huskies had their two-game winning streak stopped and fall back to .500 at 4-4 overall and 3-3 in the league.

            Bonazza scored what proved to be the game-winning goal in the opening minute of the second period when he fired home the rebound of a shot taken by senior Matt Furey (Quincy, Mass.).  Bonazza iced the decision late in the third period with an empty-net goal after some hard work along the boards by senior Connor Berto (Lake Forest, Ill.).

            Junior Mike Driscoll (Milton, Mass.) led the Beavers offense with three assists.  Berto and senior Matt O'Neill (Norwell, Mass.) each had a goal and an assist, and Furey and senior Ryan Heavey (Andover, Mass.) each had two assists.

            Southern Maine rookie winger Todd Bannerman (Georgetown, Ont.) scored twice for the home side.  Sophomore Alex Pompeo (Hingham, Mass.) picked up an assist on both goals.

            Sophomore goalie Jamie Murray (Scituate, Mass.) earned the win for Babson stopping 21 shots.  Rookie Dylan Wells (Nashville, Tenn.) made 26 saves for USM before being lifted with 1:37 to go in favor of the extra attacker.

            The Beavers took the lead just 44 seconds into the game as O'Neill jammed in a close-range shot after taking a feed from Driscoll.

            Bannerman tied the game at 18:38 when he deflected a Pompeo shot past Murray for his third goal of the season.  Sophomore Daniel Mattsson (Uppsala, Sweden) picked up the other assist.

            The tie lasted only 54 seconds as Berto regained the lead for the Beavers with a shot from 30 feet out.  Heavey and freshman Michael Phillips (Richmond Heights, Ohio) drew the assists.

            After Bonazza staked the Beavers to a 3-1 lead 50 seconds into the middle period, the play settled down until the 14:30 mark when senior Nik Tasiopoulos (Norwell, Mass.) ripped a shot from the left-wing circle past Wells for his team-leading sixth goal of the campaign.

            Bannerman got one back for the home side at 15:55 when he found himself 20 feet out in front of an empty net, but that is as close as the Huskies would get.  Pompeo and rookie Kelby Lorenz (Mississauga, Ont.) picked up the assists.

            Southern Maine is back in action Saturday afternoon (4:00 p.m.) hosting the University of Massachusetts Boston.  Babson looks to sweep its weekend trip to the Pine Tree state when it visits the University of New England on Saturday (4:00 p.m.). 

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