BABSON PARK, Mass. – Visiting UMass-Boston scored three times in the final five minutes of regulation to complete a 7-5 comeback victory over host Babson College in a matchup of nationally-ranked ECAC East rivals at the Babson Skating Center on Friday night. With the win, the Beacons (ranked 13th in the nation by U.S. College Hockey Online, 14th by D3hockey.com) improved to 14-3-1 overall and 7-3-1 in league play, while Babson (14th by USCHO, 12th by D3hockey.com) fell to 10-5-3 overall and  6-4-1 in the conference.

The Beavers held the lead four separate times in the contest, including a 5-4 advantage after junior Connor Berto (Lake Forest, Ill.) stuffed home his own rebound following a feed from classmate Matt O'Neill (Norwell, Mass.) at 7:39 of the third period. UMass-Boston then tied the contest when senior Steven Weston's (Henniker, N.H.) screened shot from the left point found its way past first-year goalie Jamie Murray (Scituate, Mass.) at 15:41, and the Beacons took the first lead of the contest when junior Cameron Harvey (Bow, N.H.) carried the puck into the Babson zone along the right boards and fired a wrister that glanced off Murray's pads and inside the right post at 18:34.

An empty-net goal with 38.8 seconds remaining accounted for the 7-5 final.

Senior captain Ryan Smith (Lynnfield, Mass.) had a monster night for the Beavers, netting his team's first hat trick of the season as he doubled his goal total for the year. His first came at 13:00 of the opening period when he scored off a dump in off the boards by first-year Phil Saviuk (Ponte-Claire, Quebec) that at the time gave the hosts a 1-0 lead. Smith then potted back-to-back goals in the second – the first on a tip of junior Matt Furey's (Quincy, Mass.) blast from the left point on the powerplay at 3:35 and the second coming off a rebound of freshman Max Franklin's (Wrentham, Mass.) wrap-around at 6:41. The latter strike, which began with a nice take-away behind the Beacons' net by senior PT Donato (Arlington, Mass.), was Smith's sixth goal of the season.

Junior Nik Tasiopoulos (Norwell, Mass.) netted a goal during a 4-on-3 powerplay at 17:16 of the opening period to provide Babson with a 2-1 lead heading into the first intermission, and Smith's two goals in the second gave the hosts a 4-2 cushion. However, the Beacons managed to erase both deficits before finally clinching the win in the third.

Murray finished with 30 saves in net for Babson, while freshman Zach Andrews (Coral Springs, Fla.) made 32 stops between the pipes for UMass-Boston.

GAME NOTES: Despite the loss, Babson still holds a commanding 36-12-5 lead in the all-time series with the Beacons, which dates back to the 1979-80 season… The two teams will lock horns again tomorrow at 4 p.m. at UMass-Boston in the second game of the weekend home-and-home series between the two travel partners.