WORCESTER, Mass. – Freshman left wing Paul Falco’s prayers were answered and, seconds later, he was mobbing University of Maine freshman linemate John Ronan, whose goal 2:02 into overtime gave Maine a 4-3 win over Harvard in their NCAA Eastern Regional first round game Saturday afternoon at the Worcester Centrum.

After getting trapped in the offensive zone and watching helplessly as four Harvard players attacked his net, Falco said a little prayer.

“I said ‘Please don’t let them score’,” relayed Falco, who then saw a Harvard shot sail wide and come to him along the boards in the defensive zone.

He chipped it out to Ronan for a two-on-one with freshman Ben Murphy and Ronan converted with a rising slap shot from the top of the left circle that sailed over the glove of Harvard freshman goalie Dov Grumet-Morris and ricocheted off the crossbar.

“I was thinking shot the whole time and I wanted to get something on the far side. I was hoping it might pop out for a rebound for Murph,” said Ronan. “I just teed it up and it went in. When I come down the off wing, I usually like to go high glove side.”

Ronan couldn’t remember his last overtime game-winner.

“I may have scored one at Walpole [Junior Stars]. But this is definitely number one on my list [of thrills],” said Ronan.

Grumet-Morris said his defenseman played the two-on-one perfectly.

“The shot beat me cleanly. I went down in the ‘V’ [butterfly position] and he put it upstairs. It was an excellent shot,” said Grumet-Morris.

Harvard senior defenseman and captain Peter Capouch said it was a transition goal that has become Maine’s trademark.

“Their transition fuels their offense and that’s exactly what happened,” said Capouch. “We come down and take a shot, they jump on offense and it’s in the back of your net.”

Maine interim head coach Tim Whitehead said it was a great hockey game and he admired how Harvard played.

“They played with a lot of heart and passion,” he said. “Our one trump card was our depth.”

He explained he wanted to capitalize on Maine’s depth advantage by playing his all-freshman fourth line as consistently as possible. Harvard, which wound up 15-15-4, went primarily with three lines.

Maine went on to beat Boston University on Sunday 4-3 to advance to the Frozen Four.

Saturday’s victory marked the sixth consecutive time the Bears won their NCAA tourney opener and the second straight year they notched that first-game triumph in overtime.

Maine beat Minnesota 5-4 in overtime in last year’s tournament opener. The Bears are 7-1 in NCAA overtime games, including six straight triumphs.

The Bears overcame a pair of one-goal deficits, the absence of leading goal scorer Colin Shields [allergic reaction to medication after having an infected tooth extracted on Friday] and a late power-play opportunity for the Crimson courtesy of a penalty for too many men on the ice.

“They have some really fast forwards who pressure you hard and we just couldn’t get that power play set up properly,” said Capouch. Maine was whistled for the penalty with 1:22 left in regulation.

Resurgent junior left wing Chris Heisten scored an important tying goal 12:08 into the second period, his third goal in his last five games, and Michael Schutte gave Maine its first lead of the game 2:14 later.

Tom Cavanagh’s power-play goal tied it 6:15 into the third period.

Harvard had taken a 2-1 lead on a pair of short-side goals directly off faceoffs. Tim Pettit scored 7:55 into the first period with a screened wrister over surprise starter Mike Morrison’s stick-side shoulder and Dave McCulloch converted in the second period with a low slapper that went five-hole.

Niko Dimitrakos swept home a cross-ice feed from Marty Kariya midway through the first period, extending Maine’s streak of consecutive games with a power-play goal to eight.

Harvard parlayed an efficient neutral-zone trap and effective down-low forechecking to stifle the Bears in that second period until Heisten gave the Bears some badly needed momentum.

Morrison finished with 19 saves, including nine Grade-A stops. Grumet-Morris wound up with 33 stops, 17 of which were of the Grade-A variety.

BLACK BEARS 4, CRIMSON 3 (OT)

(Saturday)

Harvard (15-15-4) 1 1 1 0 ? 3

Maine (24-10-7) 1 2 0 1 ? 4

First period ? 1. Harvard, Pettit 16 (Cavanaugh) 7:55; 2. Maine, Dimitrakos 20 (Kariya, Reimann) 10:27 (pp); Penalties: Harvard, Packard, obstruction hooking, 5:45; Harvard, Kolarik, obstruction hooking, 9:30; Harvard, bench (Flynn), too many men, 16:33

Second period ? 3. Harvard, McCulloch 2 (Nowak, Kolarik) 3:43; 4. Maine, Heisten 3 (Reimann) 12:08; 5. Maine, Schutte 11 (Jackson, Liscak) 14:22; Penalties: Harvard, Fried, intereference, 14:50; Maine, Lawson, boarding, 18:38

Third period ? 6. Harvard, Cavanagh 8 (Pettit, Welch) 6:15 (pp); Penalties: Maine, bench (Ronan), too many men, 4:26; Harvard, Welch, boarding, 10:10; Maine, bench (Ronan), too many men, 18:38

Overtime ? 1. Maine, Ronan 5 (Falco) 2:02; Penalties: None

Shots on goal: Harvard 8-7-7-0?22; Maine 15-11-9-2?37

Goaltenders: Harvard, Grumet-Morris (37 shots-33 saves); Maine, Morrison (22-19)

Power-play opportunities: Harvard 1 of 3; Maine 3 of 6

High-percentage scoring chances: Harvard 6-2-7-0?15; Maine 9-9-6-1?25

Attendance: 10,545