(Courtesy of UNE Sports Information)

UNE Rolls Past Southern Maine 9-2

            BIDDEFORD, Maine -- The University of New England scored seven unanswered goals over the final 30 minutes to roll to a 9-2 New England Hockey Conference (NEHC) win over the University of Southern Maine in men's action Friday evening before a standing-room-only record crowd of 1,253 at the Harold Alfond Forum.

            The victory sets a school single-season wins record for the Nor'easters (11-5-2, 7-4-1 NEHC), eclipsing the previous mark of 10 wins established during the 2013-14 season. USM falls to 5-12-1 overall, 2-10-0 in conference play. UNE's win avenged a 6-2 setback to the Huskies earlier in the season on Nov. 13.

            UNE jumped out to a 2-0 lead midway through the first period with goals from rookie Dylan Bengston (Coral Springs, Fla.) and senior Kyle Williams (Bowdoinham, Maine), only to see that lead quickly erased when USM senior Bob Ganley (Weymouth, Mass.) and freshman Jimmy Currier (Middleton, Mass.) answered 21 seconds apart at 14:01 and 14:22.  The two teams would remain deadlocked heading into the first intermission.

            From there it was all UNE.  The Nor'easters exploded for five second-period goals over the final 9:21 of the frame to pull away.  Freshman Armand Uolomeale (Westport, Conn.) scored on the backhand from the low slot to start the barrage.  Junior Blaise Healy (Melrose, Mass.) followed with a one-timer at 12:06, and rookie Nik Dotolo (Peabody, Mass.) notched his first collegiate marker on a shot from the right point less than a minute later to push the cushion to 4-1.  Freshman Tucker Ross (Ashburn, Va.) poked home his own rebound after another 16 seconds had elapsed, and Bengton capped the second-period scoring output with a power-play goal.

            Senior Ryan Quinn (Burlington, Mass.) and junior Nick Wirth (Ashburn, Va.) tacked on third-period goals for the Nor'easters, who held a slim 40-37 margin in shots on goal for the evening.

            Senior Mason Riley (Turnersville, N.J.) earned the win between the pipes, totaling 28 saves over the opening 51:20.  Freshman Joe Noonan (Cranston, R.I.) came on to stop seven shots the rest of the way.

            Sophomore Dylan Pietrangelo (Port Robinson, Ontario) recorded 17 saves in 32:55 of action for the Huskies before being relieved by classmate Kyle Shapiro (Ocean, N.J.), who made 14 saves in 27 minutes of playing time.

            Both teams will play non-conference road games on Tuesday.  Southern Maine is at Bowdoin College (7:00 p.m.), while the Nor'easters will make the trip up to Colby College (7:00 p.m.).

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