Junior Raegan Wurm scored a pair of goals and sophomore goalie Kiia Lahtinen made 20 saves as the seventh-seeded University of Maine women’s ice hockey team shut out 10th seed Merrimack College 4-0 in their Hockey East preliminary round game at the Alfond Arena on Wednesday night.
The Black Bears, now 13-18-4, will travel to take on sixth-ranked UConn, 24-8-2 and the second seed, in Saturday’s 3 p.m. quarterfinal at the Toscano Family Ice Forum in Storrs, Connecticut.
UConn beat UMaine in Orono on Jan. 9-10, 2-1 and 4-3.
Wurm’s goals were her third and fourth of the season.
Freshman Isabelle Michaud notched her 10th goal of the campaign to open the scoring at the 8:56 mark of the first period with Ava Stevenson and Gracie Hanson earning assists.
Wurm made it 2-0 just 1:25 later with Lila Shea picking up the lone assist.
Junior Lily Fetch extended the lead midway through the second period with her sixth off a Mikayla Boarder assist and Wurm picked up her second with just 41 seconds remaining in the middle period off a Paige Fong assist.
Adreanna Doucette and Lauren Lyons teamed up to make 22 stops for Merrimack, which concluded a 7-24-4 season.