BOSTON, Mass. – Although No. 3 seeded UMass Lowell (21-10-3) pressured to even the board late in the contest, the team fell, 3-1, against No. 2 Massachusetts (21-12-2) in the semifinals of the 2022 Hockey East Playoffs.
 
"Congratulations to our opponent, they were a couple goals better than us tonight," said Head Coach Norm Bazin. "I liked our effort, but I thought our execution was off. We had two unconventional goals against and that came back to hurt us. I like this group a lot and I hope we get to play another game because I think we have a better game in us than what we showed here tonight."
 
The River Hawks controlled the puck for a majority of the contest, taking a 34-21 edge in faceoffs and outshooting their opponents, 23-19. Freshman Matt Crasa (South Setauket, N.Y.), who paced the River Hawks with four shots on the night, logged the lone goal for UMass Lowell. Senior Jon McDonald (Livonia, Mich.) added threes shots of his own, while graduate student Connor Sodergren (Tewksbury, Mass.) won 13 faceoffs.
 
Senior goaltender Owen Savory (Cambridge, Ontario) made 16 stops in the decision, while Massachusetts' Matt Murray collected 22 saves to earn the win on the other end of the ice.
 
Crasa got a wide-open look from the left circle less than four minutes in for the first chance to test Murray. The River Hawks kept the pressure on from there, controlling the puck in their offensive end and outshooting Massachusetts, 5-3, in the first 11 minutes.
 
With just over eight minutes to go in the first period, Savory hung tough on a shot and put-back sequence. However, less than a minute later, the Minutemen converted on their first power play opportunity, as Garrett Wait batted a loose puck out of the air and up under the crossbar during a scrum right in front of the net.
 
The Minutemen then extended their lead to 2-0 with a goal by Bobby Trivigno on an odd-man rush with 5:50 remaining in the first.
 
The second period was all about UMass Lowell, as the River Hawks took a 13-2 shot advantage and held the Minutemen without a chance on goal in the final 13 minutes of the frame. With 13:08 to go, Sodergren collected the puck in the corner and sent a great cross out to junior Marek Korencik (Zilina, Slovakia), although his attempt was covered up by Murray. Junior Ryan Brushett (Montreal, Quebec) followed up with a wrister on a breakaway at the period's halfway mark and sophomore Ben Meehan (Walpole, Mass.) fired a laser on target less than two minutes later, but Murray held off the attack.
 
The River Hawks continued to chip away at the defense before graduate student Nick Austin (St. Louis Park, Minn.) fired from the blue line through the slot where Crasa redirected it just enough to bounce up and over Murray's outstretched skate inside of the final four minutes to cut the difference in half, 2-1, at the break.
 
The River Hawks kept the puck in their zone in the third with a backhander by junior Carl Berglund (Hammaro, Sweden). However, the Minutemen stretched the difference to 3-1 late in the game on a defensive miscue.
 
The River Hawks will now await the NCAA Tournament Selection Show on Sunday, March 20 to see if they will earn the right to play another game.