Southern Maine Wins in Triple Overtime over UMass Boston 2-1

            GORHAM, Maine -- Freshman wing Maddy Young (Westford, Vt.) scored at 6:05 of the third sudden-death overtime period to give the University of Southern Maine Huskies a thrilling, 2-1 victory of the visiting University of Massachusetts Boston Beacons in a quarterfinal round game of the 2020 New England Hockey Conference (NEHC) Women's Championship Tournament at the USM Ice Arena on Saturday.

            The win moves the fourth-seeded Huskies, 12-12-2 overall, into a semifinal game next weekend against sixth-seeded Suffolk University Rams.  Suffolk earned a spot in the semifinals by upsetting third-seeded Johnson and Wales University 2-0.  The loss ends the fifth-seeded Beacons season at 12-11-3.

            Young picked up a loose puck behind the UMB goal, skated to the left-wing side and fired a pass out from below the goal line that struck a defender's skate and slipped between the pads of senior goal Caty Flagg (Methuen, Mass.).  The goal was the third of the season for Young.  Sophomore Julianne Nelson (Armstrong, B.C.) had the lone assist on the play.

            The Beacons took a 1-0 lead at 9:44 of the first period when junior Katie Leffler (Key Largo, Fla.) fired a shot past USM senior netminder Whitney Padgett (Eden Prairie, Minn.).  Leffler took a pass from classmate Kelsey Ryan (Burlington, Mass.), skated across the front of the goal and beat Padgett for her team-leading 12th goal of the season.  Senior Lizzy Saxer (Colorado Spring, Colo.) picked up the secondary assist.

            After a scoreless second period, the Huskies got the equalizer early in the third period.  Rookie Jordan Colbert's (Manomet, Mass.) shot from 40 feet out was wide left.  Rookie Amanda Crowley (South Yarmouth, Mass.) controlled the rebound along the end board and left the puck for senior Katie Nolan (Dorchester, Mass.).  Nolan circled out and fired a laser-like wrist shot from a bad angle over Flagg's right shoulder into the top corner for her seventh goal of the year.

            The teams battled through two 20-minute overtime periods before Young brought an end to the longest game in USM women 's ice hockey history.  The teams played a total of 106:05 to eclipse the previous longest game of 97:24 against New England College on February 25, 2012.

            Padgett earned her 10th win of the season making 50 saves, including 24 over the first two overtime periods.  Flagg finished the game stopping 43 shots.

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