GORHAM, Maine -- Junior Brendan Dowler (New Preston, Conn.) scored 59 seconds into overtime to give the University of Southern Maine Huskies a 2-1 victory over the visiting Becker College Hawks in non-conference action Tuesday evening at the USM Ice Arena.
            The win was the first of the season for the Huskies in their abbreviated 2021 schedule, and leveled their record at 1-1.  The Hawks dropped their third straight game to fall to 1-4-0.
            Tied at 1-1 after 60 minutes, the Huskies won the opening faceoff of the five-minute, 3-on-3 overtime period and kept the puck in the Hawks end until Dowler found the net.  Dowler maintained possession of the puck at the blue line and created a give and go with classmate Tyler Gardiner (Watertown, Mass.).  Gardiner skated in occupying Becker rookie goalie Andrew LoRusso (Peabody, Mass.) before sliding the puck across to Dowler who had a wide-open side to bury the shot.
            Becker took an early 1-0 lead as junior Jamie Diamond (Lakeville, Conn.) took a centering pass from sophomore Luke James (Moon Township, Pa.) and redirected the puck past USM sophomore goalie Gabriel Couture (Boucherville, Quebec) for his third goal of the season at 5:16 of the opening period.  Diamond did the heavy work along the boards in the Hawks' end to gain control of the puck.  He picked up James at center ice and the two created coming in off the left-wing side.
            LoRusso protected the lead deep into the second period before sophomore Curtis Judd's (Saco, Maine) centering pass into a scrum in front of the net found its way into the net off a Becker defender's skate to tie the score at 16:18.
            The Huskies killed off three Hawks' power plays in the second period, including a stretch of 1:13 playing down 5-on-3.  Twenty-one seconds after getting back to full strength, Judd equalized.
            Southern Maine finished the game with a 34-27 edge in shots on goal.  Couture finished with 26 saves to earn his first win as a Husky.  LoRusso stopped 32 shots.
            Southern Maine is scheduled to travel this Saturday (1:00 p.m.) to Colby College.  Becker is slated to play a home-and-home series this Friday and Saturday against Connecticut College.