SCHENECTADY, NY (Dec. 15, 2006) – Mario Valery-Trabucco (Montreal, QUE) scored twice as Union defeated UMass Lowell, 4-3, Friday night in college hockey action at Messa Rink.

With the win, the Dutchmen improve to 6-7-2. The River Hawks fall to 3-9-4 with the loss.

In addition to Valery-Trabucco, Josh Coyle (Brooklyn, OH) and Jason Walters (Renfrew, ONT) scored for Union. Cleve Kinley (Powell River, BC) and Kory Falite (Billerica, MA), with two, scored for the River Hawks.

Union took a 1-0 lead Josh Coyle deflected a Lane Caffaro shot at the 15:50 mark of the opening period. Matt Cook was credited with the second assist. The goal came just seven seconds after the River Hawks killed off a 5-on-3.

Valery-Trabucco scored both of his goals in the second period, the first goal coming at 2:04 of the stanza. The freshman center netted his second tally of the period at the 17:25 mark.

In between Valery-Trabucco’s two tallies, Kinley got the River Hawks on the board with a power play marker at 13:46. The goal for Kinley was his first in 50 games (March 11, 2005) and gave UML a power play goal for the third straight contest. Chris Auger (Bellville, ONT) and Jeremy Hall (Mays Landing, NJ) earned the assists.

At 13:14 of the third, Walters scored what at the time appeared to be an insurance goal, a tally that gave Union a 4-1 lead. But UML’s Falite netted two goals in the final six minutes, his second coming at 17:47 to bring the River Hawks within a goal. Nick Schaus assisted on both Falite goals.

“We didn’t come ready to play,” said UML head coach Blaise MacDonald. “The first period was just awful and then I thought we kind of got better. We came back and played extremely well for probably 16 minutes of the second period. We started off poorly and they scored, we ended poorly and they scored. That’s one of our primary goals, to win the first two minutes and last two minutes and we failed to do that.”

Lowell out-shot Union 33-24 for the game, and 29-9 over the final two periods. The River Hawks went 1-for-7 with 13 shots on the power play. The Dutchmen were 1-for-6 on the man-advantage with 10 shots. UML is 4-for-18 (22.2%) over the last three games.

Freshman defenseman Tommy Powers (Coral Springs, FL) made his collegiate debut for the River Hawks, the 14th freshman to suit up for UML this season.

The River Hawks return to the ice Saturday night at Rensselaer to conclude their pre-Christmas schedule. Union is at Connecticut Sunday afternoon.