The defending champion Owls (11-2), who advance to the championship game for the fourth straight season, will face top seed Eastern Conn. in the finals at Willimantic, Conn. on Saturday (1 p.m.).  ECSU defeated fourth seed Plymouth State 14-7 in its semifinal contests.  KSC has played the Warriors in the last three finals.

Falling behind 2-0 in the first quarter, KSC rallied to take a 3-2 lead early on the second quarter on a goal by Tony Santa Fe (Exeter, N.H.). UMB answered with a man-up goal from Robert Black (Wolfeboro, N.H.) to tie the score.  Peter Lauranzano's (Beverly, Mass.) goal with 43 seconds to play put KSC back on top 4-3at the half.

"We were thinking ahead to the finals and came out very flat," said KSC coach Mark Theriault. "We didn't get any momentum going until the third period. It was a scary day."

Trailing 5-4 in the third quarter, KSC tied the score 5-all on a blazing shot by Taylor Morrasuti (Cheshire, Conn.) from 18-yards out. Gonzales then came to the Owls' rescue. He beat Beacon goalie Nick Eaton (Rowley, Mass.) on a one-on-one play and a minute later finished off a fast break to give KSC a two goal lead (7-5).

"It was nice to get my feet wet and help the team with a pair of goals," said Gonzales, who missed most of the season with an illness.  "UMass played their hearts out, but once we put in a couple of goals, we rolled from there."

"Our game plan was to run them into the ground and take advantage of our depth," Theriault added. "Greg stepped up with a couple of key goals in the third period and gave us the momentum we needed."

Ben Fournier (Lewiston, Me.), Sean Panora (South Windsor, Conn.), and Gonzales's third goal of the game put KSC up 10-5.  Steve Andrews (Braintree, Mass.) and Chris Hanafin (Burlington, Mass.), who finished with three goals, added late goals for UMB to account for the final score.

Making his first start of the season, Brad Bishop (Brunswick, Me.) finished the game with 15 saves for the Owls.  Eaton stopped 13 shots for UMass-Boston (9-5), which now awaits a possible ECAC Tournament berth. 

Can the Owls turn the tables on ECSU, who defeated them 8-7 earlier this season?  "We have no choice," Theriault said.  "We're going to prepare extremely hard tomorrow and hopefully we can come out on top."