PRINCETON, N.J. – Backed by 39 saves from junior Connor Murphy, the Union College men's hockey team exploded for seven goals in a 7-3 rout over Princeton University Saturday night at Hobey Baker Rink.

The victory marks a series sweep of Princeton since Union defeated the Tigers on December 3, 2021 1-0 in overtime. Union last swept a season series in the 2018-19 season against Dartmouth (2-1, 3-1). This is the first time Union has swept Princeton since the 2017-18 season (4-3, 4-1).

The last time Union scored seven goals in a game was on January 4, 2019, when the Dutchmen toppled #1 St. Cloud State, 7-2.

Five Union skaters put up multi-point games while 11 different Dutchmen made their way onto the scoresheet. Junior Gabriel Seger led all skaters with three points (1-2-3), while classmate Dylan Anhorn added a pair of goals, including one short-handed. Sophomores Tyler Watkins (1-1-2) and Nic Petruolo (0-2-2) and first-year Collin Graf (1-1-2) all had multi-point games. Junior Christian Sanda and sophomore Chaz Smedsrud each added a goal. Junior Owen Farris, sophomores Nathan Kelly and Liam Robertson, and first-year Michael Hodge all added assists in the win.

Anhorn's short-handed goal in the second period is Union's first short-handed goal since October 6, 2019 at Army West Point when Sanda found the back of the net for his first collegiate goal.

Union opened the scoring early at 8:15 of the first period. Petruolo made a horizontal pass at the blue line to Anhorn, who skated down to the left-wing circle and fired a wrister to give Union a 1-0 lead. Princeton responded quickly with a goal from Adam Robbins. Only 28 seconds later, Seger tapped in the go-ahead goal off a pass from Kelly. Watkins netted his third of the season, beating Jeremie Forget five-hole at 16:28 of the opening frame to extend the lead 3-1.

Both teams scored twice in the second period. Spencer Kersten cut the lead 3-2 only 57 seconds into the second period. The Dutchmen regained a two-goal lead a few minutes later when Petruolo dropped a pass back to Sanda, who ripped a shot into the corner to go up 4-2 for the eventual game-winning goal. Luke Keenan cut the lead down to one at 16:00. Anhorn answered a minute later with a short-handed goal, his second of the game, finding the top-right corner of the net.

Union added two more goals in the third period. Seger batted a puck out of the air to gain possession, sending it to Graf, who scored down low. Robertson sent a pass from behind the net to where Smedsrud was waiting on the doorstep to put the Dutchmen up 7-3.

Murphy made 39 saves in the win and improves to 10-13-2. Forget is tagged with the loss making 11 saves in two periods of play while Aidan Porter stopped nine shots in the final frame.

Union returns home to face Colgate University on Friday. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. at Messa Rink.