CHESTNUT HILL - One play early in the third period doomed the University of Massachusetts hockey team, which was eliminated in its Hockey East quarterfinal series against Boston College Saturday night at Conte Forum.

Two minutes, 11 seconds into the third period, with the game tied, Minuteman defenseman Justin Braun controlled the puck in the UMass defensive zone. He looked to his left and saw teammates Martin Nolet and T.J. Syner, so he sent a pass in their direction.

However, Matt Lombardi of the Eagles intercepted the pass, found himself all alone against Minuteman goaltender Paul Dainton and easily beat him to put Boston College ahead for good en route to a 5-2 victory.

"We're still only a goal down (after the play) with 18½ minutes to play," said UMass coach Don "Toot" Cahoon. "We've got to respond and we didn't. That was the difference in the game."

The fourth-ranked Eagles (22-10-3), who were seeded second in the Hockey East Tournament, swept the series against the seventh-seeded Minutemen (18-18). Boston College won 6-5 Friday night.

The Eagles advanced to the Hockey East semifinals on Friday, while the season likely ended for UMass.

In the entire third period, the Minutemen could muster only three shots on Boston College goaltender John Muse, who finished with 16 saves.

"We limited the number of chances UMass had," said Eagles coach Jerry York. "With the game on the line, that was a great way for us to establish ourselves defensively in the third."

Things appeared to be headed in the same direction as they did Friday after Barry Almeida took a centering pass in the slot from linemate Matt Price at 5:37 of the first to give Boston College the first goal of the game.

The momentum seemed to be in the Eagles' favor until Casey Wellman deposited a James Marcou rebound to tie the score at 12:18 of the first. It was the second goal in as many nights, and 22nd on the season, for the sophomore.

Carl Sneep put Boston College ahead again when he scored on a two-on-one against Braun at 12:42 of the second period, Again Wellman answered just 33 seconds later during a Minuteman power play and tied the game again.

Marcou assisted on both goals, and now has 96 for his career, breaking the school record of 94 which he had shared with Rob Bonneau who played from 1993 to 1997.

UMass came out playing a physical game.

"That's as physical a game as we've been in all year," said York. "There were good, solid hits, but everyone was playing the body and finishing checks. We've got a lot of bumps and bruises from the game."

Cahoon said, "We knew we would have to create a game where there was some physicality," Cahoon. "In order to be physical you have to be able to skate. We skate well enough to be physical and I thought in the first two periods we were able to execute that pretty well.

"That put us in a position to make a real good game in the third period," added Cahoon. "It was a physicality that really had them thinking about what they wanted to do with the puck."

With 4:50 left in the second period, Braun was assessed both slashing and roughing penalties, sending him off the ice for four minutes. T.J. Syner of the Minutemen was called for a tripping penalty 1:14 later, which gave the Eagles a five-on-three advantage for 46 seconds. UMass was able to kill off the penalties, sending the game into the third tied at 2-2.

After Lombardi gave Boston College the lead, Paul Carey scored at 9:34 for the Eagles and Almeida put the game out of reach with an empty-net goal with 23 seconds to play after Dainton (22 saves) was pulled.