BABSON PARK, Mass.—Senior Connor Berto (Lake Forest, Ill.) scored the go-ahead goal at 5:17 of the third period and classmate Nik Tasiopoulos (Norwell, Mass.) added an empty-net tally with 26 seconds remaining as second-seeded Babson College rallied to defeat third-seeded University of Massachusetts-Boston, 4-2, in an Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) East men's ice hockey semifinal on Saturday night at the Babson Skating Center.

With the victory, Babson (No. 7 USCHO.com/No. 8 D3hockey.com) moves to 21-4-2 overall and advances to the ECAC East championship game for the fifth time in the last six years, while UMass-Boston (No. 13 D3hockey.com/No. 15 USCHO.com) drops to 17-6-4.

Senior Pat Guerriero (New York, N.Y.) and sophomore Max Franklin (Wrentham, Mass.) also scored for the Beavers. Senior Matt Furey (Quincy, Mass.) had a pair of assists, while seniors Shayne Anderson (Dorchester, Mass.) and Ryan Heavey (Andover, Mass.), junior Andrew Bonazza (Dartmouth, Nova Scotia), and first-year Tim Searles (Chesapeake, Va.) all had one assist apiece.

Junior Stephen Buco (North Providence, R.I.) and sophomore Peter MacIntyre (Norfolk, Mass.) both scored for the Beacons. Seniors Mark Grinhaus (Scarsdale, N.Y.) and Mike Kuhn (Holbrooke, Mass.) both contributed an assist.

Buco gave UMass-Boston the lead just 3:56 into the first period, redirecting a shot by Kuhn, for his 10th goal of the season. Babson was stymied twice on early power play opportunities, but Guerriero evened the score with his first goal of the season at the 12:56 mark. He won a face-off at the left circle back to Furey before deflecting the ensuing shot past Beacons' sophomore goaltender Billy Faust (Alta Loma, Calif.).

UMass-Boston grabbed its second lead of the game just 1:23 into the second period as MacIntryre beat Beavers' sophomore netminder Jamie Murray (Sciutate, Mass.) after Grinhaus won a face-off in the offensive zone. The Green and White rallied to tie the game again though, as Franklin notched his fourth goal of the season at 10:10 of the second period to make it 2-2.

Babson finally took its first lead of the game on Berto's power play goal just 5:17 into the third period. Anderson took a feed from Heavey and put a shot on net from the point that Berto redirected past Faust for a 3-2 edge. The Green and White took a pair of penalties midway through the final period, but Murray stopped all three shots that got to him, and the Beavers were able to stay in front when Buco's blast from the slot rang off the left post at the 11:47 mark.

UMass-Boston pulled Faust with 1:07 remaining in the game to bring on an extra skater, but the visitors were called for a penalty just four seconds later. Tasiopoulos then put the game away with his 11th goal of the season at 19:34 of the third.

Murray, who earned his 20th victory of the season, made 25 stops, while Faust made 28 saves in defeat for the Beacons.

The Beavers finished 2-for-7 on the power play while holding UMass-Boston scoreless on three extra-man opportunities.

Babson will now travel to top-seeded Norwich for the conference title game next Saturday at 7 p.m., with the winner earning an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

GAME NOTES: The Beavers are now  40-13-6 all-time against UMass-Boston and are 6-2 against the Beacons in postseason play…Babson is 13-0-1 at home this winter and ran its unbeaten streak at the Babson Skating Center to 18 games (16-0-2) going back to last year…the Beavers are now 3-2-1 when tied after two periods, 16-2-1 when allowing two goals or less, and 14-0-1 when scoring at least three goals…since 2004, Babson is 8-1 in the ECAC East semifinals.