MANCHESTER, N.H. - No. 1 seed University of Massachusetts hockey advanced to the NCAA Northeast Regional Final with a 4-0 win over No. 4 seed Harvard on Friday afternoon at SNHU Arena. The victory, which improves UMass' record to 29-9-0, marks the Minutemen's NCAA Tournament win in program history as the squad previously advanced to a regional semifinal with a 1-0 OT triumph over Clarkson in 2007. The Crimson end their season at 19-11-3.

"That was a solid game for us," said UMass head coach Greg Carvel. "All year long, after every time we lost a game, we've come back strong and that was the case again tonight. We had a game plan that I thought our guys executed extremely well. Great to get the victory over a solid team like Harvard, it's great for our program that hasn't been to the NCAA Tournament in 12 years. Our program doesn't have a lot of history, but that team in 2007, is somebody we've always looked up to and wanted to make those guys proud. It looked like another one of those games where we were getting a lot of chances but just couldn't get the puck in, but once we got one in, the pucks just started flowing in the net. I'm really proud of my group, they played extremely hard and played playoff hockey."

While the first period was without scoring, it was not without suspense as Harvard put a backhander past freshman goaltender Filip Lindberg with 16:09 remaining in the period that was disallowed due to goaltender interference. The Minutemen had their opportunities as well, including a Bobby Trivigno shorthanded breakaway that was denied by netminder Michael Lackey. UMass went into the dressing room with a 12-3 advantage in shots on goal.

With 5:45 remaining in the second period, the Minutemen broke the deadlock to take a 1-0 lead. Freshman Anthony Del Gaizo found the back of the net for his sixth goal of the season in a scrum at the top of the crease after senior Kurt Keats carried the puck into the offensive zone and wrapped it around the cage where Del Gaizo was crashing. Freshman Ty Farmer added the secondary helper.

The score remained 1-0 until the 12:36 of third period when a Jake McLaughlin shot was tipped into the right corner by junior Niko Hildenbrand and sophomore John Leonard managed to pocket an insurance tally on a tough angle shot along the goal line, his 14th of the season.

Less than two minutes later the Minutemen extended their lead to 3-0. Sophomore Cale Makar found Brett Boeing with an outlet pass that sent him off to the races with breakway. The senior capitalized on the chance, beating Lackey with a quick shot to the top right corner for his ninth goal of the season at the 9:11 mark. Leonard added a secondary assist for his 12th multi-point game of the season.

With the Crimson net empty, Boeing picked up his second of the contest at 19:36 to cap the scoring, his third career multi-goal game.

UMass out-shot Harvard 36-17 on the afternoon and went 0-for-3 on the power play, while the Crimson were 0-for-2. Lindberg earned the 17-save shutout, his third of the season, while Lackey finished with 32 saves.

The Minutemen will face No. 3 seed Notre Dame in the Northeast Regional Final which will take place tomorrow, Saturday, March 30, at 6:30 P.M. on ESPNU.