BABSON PARK, Mass.— First-year Cole Fagan (North Andover, Mass.) tallied a goal and an assist in the third period to break a 1-1 tie and Norwich University went on to a 3-1 victory over Babson College in New England Hockey Conference (NEHC) men's ice hockey action on Saturday afternoon night inside the Babson Skating Center.

Babson has alternated wins and losses over its last five games and is now 11-9-1 overall and 9-7-1 in the NEHC while Norwich snapped a three-game losing streak to move to 9-7-3 overall and 8-4-2 in league play. The Beavers held on to second place in the conference, three points ahead of the third-place Cadets.

Sophomore Jimmy Fallon (Milton, Mass.) scored the lone goal for the Beavers, with assists from senior Wyatt George (Mount Lebanon, Pa.) and junior Ryan Murphy (Grosse Pointe Farms, Mich.). Sophomore Mason Rosado (Weddington, N.C.) made 22 saves in goal in the setback.

Sophomore Sami Molu (Toronto, Ont.) recorded 33 saves in the Norwich goal to register the victory. Classmate Ben van Waterschoot (Whitby, Ont.) and senior Bryan O'Mara (Syracuse, N.Y.) also scored for the Cadets, and juniors Nick Cordeiro (Mississauga, Ont.) and Adam Shuchart (Marietta, Ga.) and sophomores Jed Brazo (Homer, N.Y.) and Hayden Heinrich (Richmond Hill, Ont.) collected assists.

Norwich took a 1-0 lead less than three minutes into the game. Rosado made a point-blank stop on Cordeiro near the left post but van Waterschoot poked in the rebound behind Rosado to put the Cadets on the scoreboard. Norwich had a 10-7 advantage in shots in the opening frame but settled for the 1-0 lead.

Babson turned up the pressure on the Norwich goal in the second period, outshooting the visitors 17-8 in the frame, but could not solve Molu. Both teams were whistled for the pair of minor penalties in the stanza but neither team could capitalize with the man advantage.

The Green and White managed to tie the score at 5:46 of the third period on a 2-on-2 rush. George pushed a pass to Fallon at the top of the left circle and he ripped a shot over Molu's shoulder into the top right corner of the goal to even the score at 1-1.

The Cadets needed just 79 seconds to regain the lead. After Molu made a nice save on a shot by sophomore Sean Senier (Melrose, Mass.) from the left face-off dot, O'Mara skated the length of the ice, split a pair of Beaver defensemen, and beat Rosado with what turned out to be the game-winning goal at the 7:05 mark.

Fagan tacked on an insurance goal for Norwich with 3:17 remaining. He crossed the blue line with the puck on the right side and cut to the middle, where he tripped over a defender's stick but got a shot off before falling to the ice, and the shot beat Rosado inside the left post for a 3-1 lead.

After winning the ensuing face-off, Babson pulled Rosado for an extra skater for the final three minutes, and despite getting three shots on goal, the Beavers could not make a comeback.

The Cadets finished with a 34-25 advantage in shots on goal, and both teams went 0-for-2 on the power play.

Both teams are back in action with NEHC games on Friday as Babson visits UMass Boston and Norwich returns home to host Salve Regina.

GAME NOTES
• The Beavers are 30-49-8 all-time against Norwich in a series that dates back to the 1975-76 campaign.
• The Green and White had a six-game home winning streak snapped and are now 8-2 at the Babson Skating Center this season.
• George leads the Beavers with nine assists on the season and Murphy is tied for second with eight.