GORHAM, Maine -- The Colby College women's ice hockey team overcame a two-goal second-period deficit to defeat the University of Southern Maine, 3-2, in a non-conference game Tuesday night at the USM Ice Arena.

            The win was the first of the season for the Mules after four consecutive conference losses to open the campaign.  The Huskies had their two-game unbeaten string (1-0-1) snapped to fall to 2-4-1 overall.

            Southern Maine built a 2-0 cushion over the first 28 minutes as junior Cassandra Sherman (North Smithfield, R.I.) scored her first two goals of the season.  Sherman potted her first goal at 18:27 of the first period as she tipped home a pass from sophomore Lynn Kozlowski (Stoneham, Mass) to finish off a two-on-one chance.

            Sherman made it 2-0 in the second period as she buried a high shot over the glove of Colby junior goalie Angelica Crites (Middleboro, Mass.) at 8:40.  Sophomores Ally Vanidestine (Bangor, Maine) and McKenna Russell (Stoughton, Mass.) picked up the assists on the play.

            Less than four minutes later, Colby cut the deficit in half as rookie Bella Papapetros (North Andover, Mass.) scored her first career goal beating USM junior goaltender Nia Kelly (Santa Rosa, Calif.) from a scramble 20 feet out in front of the net.

            Junior Maddie Dewhirst (Hanover, N.H.) scored the equalizer for the Mules at 9:36 of the third period.  Dewhirst fired a shot from the blue line that found its way past a maze of players in front of Kelly.  Papapetros picked up the lone assist on the power-play marker.

            Junior Elisa Rascia (Park Ridge, Ill.) scored the game-winning goal at 14:13 as she fired home the rebound of a shot taken by classmate Megan Fortier (Falmouth, Maine).

            The Huskies pulled Kelly with 1:08 to play in favor of the extra attacker, but were unable to find a tying goal to force the game into overtime.  Kelly registered 10 saves before going to the bench while Crites stopped 15 shots to pick up her first win of the season.

            Southern Maine is off until December 5-6 when it hosts Trinity College for a two-game, non-conference series at the USM Ice Arena.  Colby is back in action on Saturday (4:00 p.m.) when it travels to Boston to play the University of Massachusetts Boston in a non-conference game. 

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