BABSON PARK, Mass.— Senior Nate Mueller (Rogers, Minn.) made 32 saves in goal, including double digits in all three periods, and No. 7 Babson College scored twice in each of the second and third frames to defeat Plymouth State University, 4-1, in Little East Conference men's ice hockey action Friday evening inside the Babson Skating Center.

With the victory, Babson is unbeaten in its last five games (4-0-1) to improve to 10-1-2 on the season and takes over first place in the LEC with a 5-0-1 conference record. Plymouth State has dropped a pair of games to top-10 teams in the past eight days and falls to 8-6-0 overall and 5-2-0 in the Little East.

Seniors Ryan Murphy (Grosse Pointe Farms, Mich.), Charlie Andriole (Branford, Conn.) and Brendan Kennedy (Georgetown, Ont.) and first-year Reid Pehrkon (Vienna, Va.) accounted for the Babson scoring in the victory. Senior Nolan Woudenberg (Collegeville, Pa.) collected a pair of assists, and seniors Egan Schmitt (Schuylerville, N.Y.) and Danny Cavanagh (Warwick, R.I.) and sophomore Evan Brown (Little Silver, N.J.) added one helper each for the Green and White.

Senior Payton Schaly (Orillia, Ont.) scored the lone goal for the Panthers with an assist from classmate Will Redick (Collingwood, Ont.). Senior Brandon Shantz (San Antonio, Texas) finished with 36 saves in the PSU goal in the loss.

After a scoreless first period that included just one penalty, Murphy opened the scoring for Babson at 5:24 of the second. A shot from the right point by Woudenberg was deflected wide right, and Murphy collected the loose puck behind the net and stuffed it inside the right post from below the goal line for his third of the season.

The Beavers doubled their lead with a power play goal four minutes later as Andriole snapped a wrist shot from the top of the left circle off a feed from Brown that snuck through the pads of Shantz at 9:35. It was Andriole's seventh of the season, most among LEC defensemen.

Mueller made his biggest saves in the second period, when he stopped Redick from point blank range with 8:45 to go after a Babson turnover in the defensive zone, and he denied senior Brendan Doyle (Stratham, N.H.) with a nifty save on a 3-on-1 for the Panthers.

The visitors got back in the game with a goal at 6:19 of the third period. Redick intercepted a Babson clear along the right boards and fed Schaly in the high slot, and Schaly ripped a shot past Mueller the cut the margin to one goal with 13:40 to play.

Babson regained the two-goal margin when Woudenberg knocked down a PSU dump at his own blue line and sent the puck to Kennedy on the left for a partial breakaway. Kennedy, using his body to ward off a defender, slipped a backhander inside the left post as Babson went up 3-1 at 13:26.

Shantz prevented further damage for PSU when he denied senior Mike Stevens (Massapequa, N.Y.) on a breakaway with under four minutes remaining. Plymouth State pulled the goalie with just under two minutes to go but Pehrkon sealed the victory with an empty net goal with 30 seconds remaining.

The Beavers finished with a 40-33 advantage in shots on goal. The hosts went 1-for-3 on the power play and killed off all three Plymouth State attempts with a man-advantage.

Both teams return to the ice for LEC games on Saturday at 4 p.m., as the Green and White host New England College and Plymouth State visits Southern Maine.

GAME NOTES
• Babson has won six of the last seven against Plymouth State and owns an 8-2-1 advantage in the all-time series that dates back to the 2002-03 season.
• Andriole has six goals and an assist in his last five games after scoring four goals in his first three seasons for the Beavers.
• Mueller has allowed two goals or fewer in five straight games and eight of 10 outings this season.