UMass (13-9-4, 10-7-2 Hockey East) had a tough time out of the gate on Saturday night and suffered only its second home loss of the season by falling to UMass Lowell (4-19-6, 3-14-3 HEA) 2-1. The Minutemen never led in the game, while Chris Capraro scored the lone goal for UMass. Massachusetts will host a pair of conference games next weekend at the Mullins Center: Friday vs. Boston University and Saturday vs. Providence. The game vs. BU also marks White Out Night, with the first 1500 in attendance getting a free White Out t-shirt.

The River Hawks opened up the scoring with Todd Fletcher’s first goal of the season, scored with traffic in front of Jon Quick in the UMass net. The goal, scored at 8:09, was assisted by Nick Monroe and Jeremy Dehner.

The Minutemen responded with Chris Capraro’s seventh of the season at 13:40. Cory Quirk won the faceoff back to his linemate, who put the shot in past Nevin Hamilton in net. Capraro’s goal was his second against UML this season, his fourth point overall in the season series.

At the end of one, shots were 9-2 in favor of the visitors and UML continued to pour on the pressure by netting the first goal of the middle stanza to take the 2-1 lead. Kory Falite came up with the goal, again scored with a significant amount of congestion in front of the UMass net. Mark Roebothan and Cleve Kinley each were credited with assists on the play just 53 seconds into the period.

With the River Hawks holding the 2-1 lead, neither team put a dent in the scoreboard in the third. Head Coach Don Cahoon called for a timeout with 1:38 left in the game and pulled Quick in favor of the extra attacker with a minute remaining.

Overall, shots were 29-26 in favor of the visitors. Neither team found the back of the net on the power play, with the Minutemen going 0-for-4. Quick made 27 saves in the loss, while Hamilton registered his first career win behind a 25- save effort.