AMHERST, Mass. - Freshman Scott Morrow hammered home his first career goal 1:59 into overtime to give No. 12/10 Massachusetts a 5-4 win over Merrimack at the Mullins Center on Saturday night. The win, UMass' fourth in row, moves the Minutemen to 4-2-0 on the season, 2-0-0 in Hockey East action, while the Warriors fall to 3-5-0, 1-4-0 in conference action.
Merrimack opened the scoring 5:51 into the first when Steven Jandric came streaking down the slot and finished off a feed from Filip Forsmark and Zach Vinnell to give the Warriors a 1-0 advantage.
Logan Drevitch then doubled the lead for Merrimack with a power-play tally on a tough-angle shot from Forsmark and Liam Walsh, 12:23 into the first.
UMass halved its deficit at the 3:59 mark of the second period with senior Garrett Wait cleaning up a loose puck from classmate Bobby Trivigno and junior Reed Lebster on the power play to bring the Minutemen within a goal of Merrimack.
Wait then added his second of the night on a similar play 16:36 into the frame, sliding a puck under netminder Zachary Borgiel for the equalizer with junior Matthew Kessel and Trivigno picking up the assists.
The Minutemen took their first lead of the contest with less than a minute to play in the second as junior Cal Kiefiuk buried a pass from Lebster after Morrow's outlet sent the duo on up the ice on an odd-man rush.
Merrimack opened the third period by leveling the score at 3-3 with Steven Jandric capitalizing on a UMass turnover at the 52 second mark.
Graduate student Matt Baker put the Minutemen back up by a goal on another 2-on-1 chance as he finished off a feed from sophomore Oliver MacDonald and senior Colin Felix at 8:58.
The Warriors responded once more with time winding down in the third. With the Merrimack net empty and the extra attacker on, Ben Brar knocked in the Warriors' fourth of the night from Alex Jeffries and Declan Carlile at 19:13 to force the extra frame.
Merrimack was whistled for goaltender interference at the horn to end the third, resulting in a UMass power play to begin overtime. With one second remaining on the penalty to Zach Uens, Morrow's one-timer from Kiefiuk hit the back of the net to seal the victory.
Five Minutemen finished the contest with multi-point performances, with Wait leading the way with two goals, while Kiefiuk and Morrow both contributed a goal and an assist, and Lebster and Trivigno each added a pair of helpers.
Merrimack out-shot UMass 36-26 on the night and was 1-for-4 on the power play, while the Minutemen were 2-for-4 with the man advantage. Matt Murray totaled 32 saves for UMass and Borgiel had 21 stops for the Warriors.
The Minutemen will be back in action next Friday, November 5, beginning a home-and-home against No. 8 Providence at the Mullins Center at 7 p.m.
