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NOTRE DAME, Ind. -- The No. 5 ranked UMass Lowell hockey team skated to a 2-2 tie at Notre Dame on Friday night in front of a soldout crowd of 5,022 at Compton Family Ice Arena.

With the tie and a Vermont loss, the River Hawks are in sole possession of first place in the Hockey East standings with a 5-0-2 in league play (12 pts.) and now own a 8-2-3 overall mark, while Notre Dame is now 6-6-2 overall and 2-2-2 in conference action.

The Fighting Irish took a 2-0 lead on goals by Mario Lucia just 1:52 into the first period and Sam Herr's goal at 8:54 of the second frame.

Freshman forward John Edwardh (Calgary, Alberta) got the River Hawks on the board with 1:23 left in the second period off a rebound from a shot from A.J. White (Dearborn, Mich.), beating Katunar low glove side in a scrum in front of the net. Sophomore forward Joe Gambardella (Staten Island, N.Y.) tied the game at 2-2 just 3:23 into the third frame for his sixth goal of the season. Gambardella had a breakaway chance with two seconds to go to, but Notre Dame goaltender Chad Katunar was up to the task.

Notre Dame's Austin Wuthrich scored on the power play with 13:52 left in the third, but the officials waved off the goal to keep the game knotted at 2-2.

Junior Kevin Boyle (Manalapan, N.J.) made his ninth start (5-1-2 record) of the season and posted 21 saves, while Katunar had 32 saves to his credit for the Irish. UMass Lowell outshot Notre Dame, 34-23, for the game with an 11-6 advantage in shots in the middle frame. The River Hawks went 0-for-3 on the power play, while the penalty kill was 2-for-2.

White and C.J. Smith (Des Moines, Iowa) finished the night with a game-high five shots on goal for the River Hawks. Sophomore forward Chris Maniccia turned in a solid performace winning 8-of-12 (75%) faceoffs on the night.

The River Hawks return to action on Saturday, November 29th against Harvard. Game time is 7 p.m. at the Tsongas Center.