Auburn, ME – The CMCC women's hockey team battled prep school opponent Hebron Academy on Wednesday night, falling 3-1 in an exhibition contest at Norway Savings Bank Arena. Emma Knowles scored for the Mustangs and goaltender Tatum Hunt made a season-high 38 saves before the Lumberjacks sealed the game with an empty-net tally.

"I felt like we battled good and kept a good structure," said head coach Jordy Knoren. "Hebron was a faster team than we had faced all year so it took a little time to adjust to. I thought we battled though and got back into it in the second period. We gave ourselves a chance to tie it up late. Tatum (Hunt) and Fiona (Landry) played exceptionally well for us."

The Lumberjacks scored twice late in the first period to take a 2-0 lead into the intermission. Lillianna Baldasaro registered a power play goal with 4:06 remaining in slightly controversial fashion. The referee blew the play dead after Hunt appeared to pin the initial shot under her blocker arm. However, the puck squeezed through and rolled across the goal line after the whistle. A change prior to this season at the NCAA level lets referees allow the goal to stand if the puck crosses the line in the immediate and continuous action after the whistle has blown.

Hebron scored its second of the night with just 16 seconds left in the period. Scotia O'Handley's shot from the left point was headed towards the far post before Peyton Grebinar redirected it back into the slot. That gave Elena Seremetis an open side of the net to deposit her shot into, doubling the lead.

CMCC was outshot 12-4 through the first 17 minutes, but responded better in the second period. Kylee Spugnardi worked a chance from the right circle, only to see her shot just miss the top corner of the net. The carom out of the corner took it back up the boards where Gloria San Pedro got to it first, knocking it over to Knowles.

The Kents Hill School product saw her initial shot saved off the right toe of goaltender Trinity Nardelli's pad, but she crashed the net and was able to jam the rebound in before the netminder could cover. That cut the deficit to 2-1 with 10:37 to go in the frame.

The Mustangs mustered eight shots in the third period but could not crack the net a second time to tie things up. Hunt made some of her best stops in the final period. The Lewiston Blue Devils product had 16 saves in the third before she was pulled for the extra attacker with two and a half minutes left to play. Baldasaro was able to swipe the puck during the six-on-five stretch and hit the empty net from her own blue line to seal a 3-1 win for Hebron Academy with 1:34 remaining on the clock.

It was the first loss of the inaugural campaign for Central Maine's newest athletic team, albeit one that won't count on their official record due to the game being an exhibition. The Mustangs sit at 6-0-0 heading into their final contest of the first semester. They return to IWCHL action on Sunday, December 15^th when they travel down to Cambridge, MA to face the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Puck drop between CMCC and MIT is scheduled for 1:00 pm that afternoon.