UNE falls to No. 6 Babson, 4-3

Nationally-ranked Babson College survived a late flurry by the University of New England to come away with a 4-3 New England Hockey Conference win Friday evening at the Babson Skating Center.

The Beavers (14-4-2, 10-2-1 NEHC), ranked sixth in the United States College Hockey Online poll and eighth in the D3Hockey.com national ranking, earned a sweep of the season series with the Nor’easters, who dipped to 11-7-2 overall, 7-5-1 in conference play.

Babson grabbed a 2-0 lead after one period on goals by Tommy Munichiello and Max Franklin. Munichiello tallied just 1:35 into the contest, and Franklin converted on the power play at the 16:03 mark. Matt Brazel assisted on each marker.

Ryan Quinn cut the Beavers’ lead in half at 4:38 of the second period, knocking home a rebound of a shot by Blaise Healy. Ben Pearl had a secondary assist.

Babson would get that back less than one minute later on a goal by Brazel — his third point of the evening.

Jackson Tucker pulled the Nor’easters within one (3-2) from the high slot at the 7:40 mark, off a feed from Christian Rossetti. That was erased less than one minute before the end of the frame, however, when Munichiello converted for the second time.

UNE made things interesting in the final period. Armand Uomoleale scored his seventh goal of the season on a one-timer from the left circle to get the Nor’easters back to a one-goal margin (4-3) with 3:30 remaining. That play was assisted by Tucker Ross and Kyle Williams.

The Nor’easters would pull goaltender Joe Noonan for an extra skater with 1:26 remaining. Despite keeping the puck in its offensive zone nearly the entire time, UNE was unable to come up with the game-tying goal.

Matt Pompa needed 15 stops to register the win for the Beavers, who held a commanding 43-18 cushion in shots on goal. Noonan piled up a career-best 39 saves for the Nor’easters.

UNE completes its road trip tomorrow with a 4 p.m. match-up versus #8/9 UMass Boston.

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