Junior forward Eric Faith scored a goal for the Minutemen
Massachusetts Skates Against Dartmouth In Exhibition

AMHERST, Mass. - No. 9 University of Massachusetts hockey dropped Saturday night's exhibition, 3-2, to visiting Dartmouth at the Mullins Center. The Big Green finished on top after 60 minutes, with UMass adding two goals in an inconsequential overtime.

"Frustrated. Felt like another game where we owned possession in shots and chances. We made it close at the end, I give Dartmouth a ton of credit. They showed a lot of character and a lot of will. We showed that we didn't really want to defend tonight."

"We're not a team that's ever scored easily, but we've been a team that's defended well and I'm not happy with the way we defended. It's a work in progress."

After an uneventful first nine minutes, Big Green senior winger Jeff Losurdo broke the scoreless tie with 10:42 to play in the period, slamming a cross-crease pass by the pad of Matt Murray. That was the lone tally of the opening frame, and the Minutemen took a 16-5 advantage in shots on goal into the locker room.

With 5:34 remaining in the second period, Dartmouth doubled their lead with a point-blank shot into the top right corner. The Big Green took a 2-0 cushion into the second intermission, with UMass holding a 24-12 advantage in shots on goal.

The Minutemen continued to pace Dartmouth in shots and chances, but the visitors capitalized once again, scoring on a rebound to push their lead to 3-0 with 12:43 remaining.

It took over 50 minutes but UMass found its way onto the scoresheet at the 10:10 mark of the third period. After wheeling around the offensive zone with the puck, junior forward Eric Faith found Scott Morrow at the point with a backhand feed and the freshman picked the top-left corner to make it a 3-1 contest.

For the next eight minutes, the Minutemen continued to apply pressure. With 1:40 left showing on the scoreboard it was Faith who found his way into the goal column. The center collected an outlet pass from freshman defender Ryan Ufko and carried the puck down the left side of the Big Green zone, finishing short-side high to reduce Dartmouth's lead to 3-2.

Regulation would end with the score still 3-2. In the five-minute overtime of the exhibition, it was senior Garrett Wait and sophomore Ryan Sullivan with the tallies, ultimately giving UMass a 4-3 advantage.

The Minutemen outshot Dartmouth 44-18 in three periods while finishing 0-for-2 on the power play and 2-for-2 on the penalty kill.

At the 10:23 mark of the second period, freshman goaltender Luke Pavicich took over the net-minding duties for Murray. Murray stopped 4 of the 5 shots he saw while Pavicich turned away 11 of 13 shots.

UMass will kick-off Hockey East play next Friday, Oct. 29, traveling to Merrimack for a 7 p.m. puck drop.