MANCHESTER, N.H. — Trevor Fleurent netted four goals as the University of New England closed out the ECAC East regular-season with an 8-1 triumph over Saint Anselm on Saturday in men’s ice hockey action at Sullivan Arena.

The Nor’easters (9-13-2) move to 7-9-2 and 16 points in league outings, and will face Castleton State College in the opening round of the league playoffs. UNE and the Spartans currently share fourth place in the standings with CSC still having one game remaining. The official pairings for the tournament will be announced on Monday after that contest concludes.

Fleurent’s five-point performance sets the program record for a single-game, passing three players that had previously posted four points in one night. His goal total now shares the UNE record that Jared Melman established last season.

Ben Pearl also booked a new school game record with four assists. Tom Gildersleeve factored in three scores.

The rest of the UNE offense, which reached its scoring output on just 20 shots, came from Zeth Zielinski, Blaise Healy, Nick Wirth and David Goff.

Goalie Colby Drost upped his personal conference ledger to 7-6-2 by turning away 24 attempts that were sent his direction.

After markers from Fleurent and Zielinski in the first period, the Nor’easters scored four times (Fleurent, Healy, Fleurent, Wirth) in six tries on-target during the second frame. Fleurent and Goff capped the day with goals in the third.

For the Hawks (9-13-3, 7-9-2 ECAC East), Mark Meads made it 3-1 a little more than six minutes into the middle session. Goalies Shayne Joyce (39:57) and Brendan Cain (20:00) made eight and four saves, respectively.

Women’s Hockey

No. 4 NORWICH 2, UNE 0

BIDDEFORD — Madyson Moore scored a pair of third-period goals to break a scoreless tie and give the nationally-ranked Norwich University women’s ice hockey team a 2-0 victory over the University of New England in ECAC Women’s East action Saturday afternoon at the Harold Alfond Forum.

The Cadets, ranked fourth in the most recent U.S. College Hockey Online national poll, improve to 15-4-3 overall and remain unbeaten in league play at 12-0-2. UNE slips to 4-14-5, 1-11-3 in ECAC East action.

Despite being outshot 31-7 over the first two periods, the Nor’easters were able to keep Norwich off the scoreboard until Moore tallied the game-winner at 4:10 of the third. Taylor Cross slid a pass from the left side across the slot to Moore, who was set up in the right circle. Moore’s one-timer beat UNE goaltender Sydney Helmbrecht for her fourth marker of the season. Katie Jeter had a secondary assist.

Moore gave the Cadets an insurance goal at the 14:47 mark when she received a feed from Erin Joyce and worked her way to the low slot before burying a wrist shot.

Netminder Celeste Robert needed just 11 saves to register her fourth shutout for Norwich, which put up 21 of its 38 shots on goal in the middle period.

Helmbrecht was strong between the pipes for UNE, finishing with a total of 36 stops.

Women’s Basketball

UNE 66, NICHOLS 50

BIDDEFORD — Meghan Gribbin scored 13 of her game-high 15 points before halftime to help the University of New England to a 36-25 lead, and the Nor’easters cruised in the second half for a 66-50 Commonwealth Coast Conference women’s basketball win over Nichols College Saturday afternoon at the Harold Alfond Forum.

The Nor’easters (19-4, 15-1 CCC), who came into the contest with a one-game lead over Roger Williams University in the conference standings, have now won 11 consecutive meetings with Nichols (6-17, 3-13). UNE pushed its regular-season homecourt winning streak over CCC opponents to 42 games.

Gribbin made all three of her 3-point attempts and each of her four free throw attempts en route to her 15 points. She added five assists. Alicia Brown had 13 points and three blocked shots, while Kelly Coleman added 12 points. Lauren Hayden collared eight rebounds and came up with five steals, and Brooke Flaherty scored nine points and grabbed five boards off the bench.

Amber Litwinko led the Bison with 12 points and a game-best nine rebounds. She also chipped in five assists and three steals. Brooke Packard scored 11 points and Sarah Whitestone had nine.

With the score tied at 12 less than eight minutes into the game, UNE went on a 17-4 run over the ensuing 8:10 to establish a 29-16 advantage. Gribbin scored the final eight points of the spurt ”“ including a pair of treys ”“ to help UNE open up its cushion.

The Nor’easters lead 36-25 at intermission, shooting 52.2 percent (12 of 23) from the floor and 62.5 percent (5 of 8) from beyond the arc.

UNE maintained a double-digit advantage the entire second frame, with the lead fluctuating between 11 and 19 points.

For the game, the Nor’easters shot 44.7 percent (21 of 47), compared to 32.1 percent (17 of 53) accuracy for the Bison. UNE also held a 41-28 margin on the backboards.

Men’s Basketball

NICHOLS 77, UNE 68

BIDDEFORD — Nichols College finished a 19-2 spurt just prior to the midway mark of the second half to turn around an eight-point deficit on the way to a 77-68 Commonwealth Coast Conference men’s basketball victory over the University of New England on Saturday afternoon at the Harold Alfond Forum.

The Bison (18-5) stay one game clear atop the league standings at 15-1 with the result, while the Nor’easters (6-17) slip to 4-12 in CCC action.

Irving Eggleston recorded 22 points and four steals to lead NC, and Gustave Koumare drained five shots from long distance on the way to 18 points. Christian Horton and Jared Thompson each added 10 points. Matt Langadas ended with seven points and eight assists, and Joe Gallant scored six to go with a game-high 13 rebounds.

UNE received 16 points apiece from Devin Thompson and C.J. Autry, combining for seven treys. Evrim Ozkan did not miss from the floor or the charity stripe to register 10 points, and Drew Coveney posted eight points, five rebounds, and eight assists. Autry also had a team-best seven boards and three steals.

The hosts jumped out to a 6-0 start and still led by one (11-10) until Jared Thompson canned a pair of triples to spark a 10-0 Nichols run. When the margin peaked at 11 (27-16), Devin Thompson kept UNE close with 10 points in-a-row and narrowed the gap to six (32-26) in the process.

The Bison were up 40-35 at intermission, with Eggleston at 14 points and Devin Thompson scoring 13 for UNE.

Ozkan turned UNE’s first possession of the final stanza into points, kicking-off a 14-1 stretch that sent the Nor’easters to a 49-41 cushion at the 16:32 mark. UNE’s rookie forward had all of his eight second-half points in the span.

Nichols countered right back with 10 unanswered in 1:48, including six from Eggleston. After the home side leveled things at 51-51, Eggleston gave the visitors the lead for good with a jumper in the paint and NC quickly built a 60-51 margin.

The Nor’easters sliced the spread down to one (64-63) with 5:20 left, but six straight on a 3-pointer by Jared Thompson and three-point play from Koumare pushed it to seven.

UNE got back within three (70-67) only to have Langadas convert a three-point play of his own to all but seal the decision with 1:45 on the clock.