Two goals by C.J. Smith lifted UMass Lowell to a 4-1 win over Notre Dame.
NOTRE DAME, Ind. — Junior forward C.J. Smith notched his fourth two-goal game of the year to lead No. 5 UMass Lowell to a 4-1 victory at No. 9 Notre Dame in Hockey East play at Compton Family Ice Arena on Thursday night.
With the victory, the River Hawks improve to 8-3-2 overall and 4-1-0 in Hockey East play, while the Fighting Irish drop to 5-4-2, 2-2-1 in league play.
"I thought it was a hard-fought contest, we came out the way we wanted and we fell into a lull in the second period and we bounced back in the third," said UMass Lowell head coach Norm Bazin. "Overall it was a great effort and any time you can win on the road in Hockey East against a good team, a well-coached team, we will take it."
FINAL: #RiverHawks take the first game of the series, 4-1, at @NDHockey #UnitedInBlue #UMLHockey50 #HockeyEast pic.twitter.com/WA64vBwJgf
— UMass Lowell Hockey (@RiverHawkHockey) November 18, 2016
Smith opened the scoring just 35 seconds into the game beating Notre Dame Cal Peterson high glove side with a wrist shot for his eighth goal of the season. The River Hawks outshot the Fighting Irish 11-7 in the opening period.
Freshman forward Ryan Lohin made it a 2-0 game for the River Hawks just 1:46 into the second period for third goal of his collegiate career. Notre Dame's Connor Hurley cut UMass Lowell's lead to 2-1 at the 6:18 mark. Senior forward Evan Campbell then tallied his first goal of the season at 13:44 of the second period to give the River Hawks a 3-1 lead.
Smith capped off the scoring in the game with an empty-netter for his ninth goal of the season and the 11th multi-goal game of his career with 2:04 left in the contest.
UMass Lowell outshot Notre Dame 35-23 for the game, which included a 13-8 advantage in the third period.
Freshman goaltender Tyler Wall made 22 stops in his eighth win of the season for the River Hawks. Peterson made 31 saves in the losing effort for Notre Dame.
The River Hawks return to action on Friday in the series finale at Notre Dame. Game time from Compton Family Ice Arena is 7:30 p.m.
