WALTHAM, Mass. – Visiting Holy Cross won Friday's series opener at Bentley Arena 4-1 over the Falcons in the first of two games between the teams this weekend.

Bentley defenseman Nick Bochen (North Vancouver, B.C.) scored at the end of the first period, with freshmen Arlo Merritt (Halifax, Nova Scotia) and Nicholas Niemo (Middlebury, Vt.) on the assists. The assist for Niemo extended his scoring streak to eight games.

Holy Cross scored the game's first goal off the stick of Grayson Constable at the 6:22 mark of the opening period.

The score stayed that way until the 17:13 mark of the 1^st when a bouncing puck in the neutral zone led to a breakout for Holy Cross' Jack Ricketts, who finished at the other end to give the Crusaders a 2-0 lead.

But just over a minute later, Bochen's 5^th goal of the season cut the deficit in half. Niemo dug the puck out along the boards and played a quick pass to Merritt on the edge of the right faceoff circle. Merritt then threaded a pass to Bochen on the edge of the left faceoff circle, who one-timed his shot for the goal.

Holy Cross got the only goal of the 2^nd period, on the power play from left wing Lucas Thorne at 5:53.

The Crusaders then added a power play goal at 10:02 of the third period, with Ricketts the goal scorer for his second of the evening.

Shots on the night were 29-22 in favor of Holy Cross.

These teams will meet again on Saturday as Bentley will look to gain a split of the series.