Lowell, Mass. – Three first-year players scored for the Union College men's hockey team, including a three-point game from
Nathan Free and
Cooper Sharp's first collegiate goal, and the Garnet Chargers scored three straight goals in the third period after trailing 5-1, but the University of Massachusetts Lowell held on for a 5-4 win at the Tsongas Center on Friday night.
Union (5-5-0) has lost three straight games after suffering its first defeat at the hands of UMass Lowell (3-8-0) since Oct. 30, 2004.
Sharp found the back of the net for the first time in his NCAA career to tie the game up 1-1 late in the first. His first collegiate point also represented Union's first short-handed goal of the season. He is the 12th Union rookie in the team's Division I era to score shorthanded.
The River Hawks dominated the second period, scoring four straight goals in a span of 11:32, including a pair of power-play scores. Union gave up three goals while reduced on the ice Friday and is now allowing opponents to score 26.5 percent of the time while on the kill.
Union's highly-rated power-play unit was also on full display however, nearly matching UMass Lowell's three man-up goals with two of its own. After first-year Gavin Garry scored at the 3:42 mark of the third, Free and junior Connor Smith tacked on power-play goals to cut the deficit to just one after trailing 5-1. At 44.1 percent after going two for three against UMass Lowell, Union now leads the country in power-play percentage.
Free scored his seventh goal of the season and third on the power play with 10:49 remaining in regulation. Smith scored another power-play goal 63 seconds later, assisted by Free and junior Will Felicio.
Free is tied for the most goals by a rookie in the country this season, matching New Hampshire's Emile Guite, who also scored on Friday. Free also produced the fifth multi-point game of his career already, giving him 14 points and the second-most points among first-years in college hockey, one behind Adam Benák from Western Michigan. Smith's sixth goal of the year came on his fifth power-play goal, making him the nationwide leader in man-up goals this season.
Sophomore Brendan Holahan played the final period in goal for Union, taking over for his classmate Brayden Gillespie who conceded five goals through the first 40 minutes. Holahan kept Union's comeback hopes alive by saving all six shots he faced, including one while Union was on the kill.
Holahan went to the bench for the final 1:56 of action after Union killed off a late penalty. Free had a pair of shots blocked in the final 30 seconds, both by Libor Nemec who had broken his stick moments before.
Union has lost three straight games for the first time since the end of the 2024-25 season. The Garnet Chargers look to get back on track Saturday, Nov. 14 against New Hampshire with puck drop in Durham, N.H. set for 7 p.m.
