LOWELL, Mass. – The UMass Lowell hockey team (5-8-0) faced a 4-0 setback against No. 16 Northeastern (9-6-2) on Saturday to split the weekend series.
 
"It was an emotional hockey game," said Head Coach Norm Bazin. "I thought we didn't quite start off the way we wanted execution-wise and I thought it proved the difference. There were several points in the game that I thought the result could've been vastly different if we could finish and it just wasn't there tonight. Granted, I give credit to their goalie. He played a good game. It could've been a different type of game had we got one early."
 
Freshman Henry Welsch (Lakeville, Minn.) registered 19 saves in net in the loss, while Northeastern's Connor Murphy stopped 32 attempts in the win. Ty Jackson and Tyler Spott each finished the night with two points for the Huskies. Senior Connor Sodergren (Tewksbury, Mass.) and sophomore Zach Kaiser (Orangeville, Ontario) paced the River Hawks with five shots on goal apiece.
 
As a team, the River Hawks outshot the Huskies, 32-23, on the night and controlled the faceoffs, 40-21.
 
The teams both had their chances in the opening minutes, but it was the Huskies who took advantage of a turnover and broke open the scoring at 7:25 of the first when Jackson received a pass on the post and dished it back out to Michael Kesselring, who was coming through the low slot for the goal. Spott then added an unassisted tally four minutes later to give the visitors an early, 2-0 advantage.
 
The River Hawks took a slight, 9-8 edge in shots on goal in the second, including back-to-back chances by sophomore Andre Lee (Karlstad, Sweden) that were knocked away by Murphy. The home team also had a pair of power play chances in the period, but was unable to capitalize. NU then extended its buffer to 3-0 after coming back to even strength following its second successful penalty kill of the stanza, as Aidan McDonough finished a one-timer.
 
Both sides traded shots in a physical third period that saw the squads combine for seven total power play opportunities. However, the Huskies would keep the River Hawks off the board and add another insurance goal from Jackson just before the horn to seal the 4-0 decision.
 
The River Hawks' next opponent has yet to be announced by Hockey East.