Box Score GORHAM, Maine – UMass Dartmouth held off Southern Maine on the road on Saturday, as senior Tyler Prentice (Chelmsford, Mass.) collected his first hat trick of the 2016 campaign. The Corsairs earn their first conference win on the year and improve to 3-7, while the Huskies drop to 5-4 on the year and are now 0-2 in Little East Conference play.
UMass Dartmouth opened up the scoring when senior Andrew Johnson (Hopkinton, Mass.) received the pass from sophomore DJ Miller (Ashland, Mass.), who buried the goal only 44 seconds into action. Southern Maine would answer back halfway through the first quarter. Sophomore Nate DelGiudice (Oakland, Maine) found the back of the net at the 8:21 marker to bring the game back even. Prentice then brought the visiting team back in front with a goal at 9:32 in the first.
Southern Maine seized the lead only seven seconds in the second quarter, when freshman Josh Murphy (Readfield, Maine) scored his second goal of the season in the midst of a three goal stretch for the Huskies. Senior Bo Prozinski (Ashland, Mass.) potted his 33rd goal of the season to put an end to the Huskies' scoring run and pull the Corsairs back to within a goal.
After DelGiudice's second goal to extend the Southern Maine lead to two, the Corsairs rattled home five straight goals to up their lead to an 8-5 margin. The Huskies would close the gap to one after goals from DelGiudice and junior Seth Wing (West Gardiner, Maine) to close out the third quarter.
UMass Dartmouth opened up the fourth quarter with two quick goals within the first 94 seconds to extend the lead back to three. Miller and Prentice started the stanza, netting scores at 36 seconds and 1:34, respectively.
Southern Maine nearly completed a comeback, as junior Jaymz McStowe (Plymouth, Mass.) brought the lead within two with his sixth goal of the year at 7:54 marker. Senior Austin Watts (Westbrook, Maine) cut the Corsair lead to one with his goal with 32 seconds remaining in the final quarter, but a blocked Wing shot in the closing moments sealed the victory.
Junior Matt LaFond (Bridgewater, Mass.) collected the win for the Corsairs after making eight stops in the circle for the road team. Sophomore Zach Bessette (Readfield, Maine) dropped to 2-2 on the year after making 10 saves for the Huskies.
UMass Dartmouth will return to action when they travel to Buzzards Bay, Mass. to take on the Buccaneers of the Massachusetts Maritime Academy on Wednesday at 7 p.m.
