ALBANY, N.Y. – University of Maine senior center Michel Leveille said he and linemate Greg Moore were really disappointed with the way they played in their 4-1 loss to Boston College in the Hockey East semifinals.

“We didn’t play up to our capabilities and we wanted redemption today. We needed our line to step it up so everybody else could follow us,” Leveille said after collecting a goal and two assists to help the Bears beat Harvard 6-1 Saturday to earn a berth in Sunday’s NCAA’s East Regional final against Michigan State.

Moore had an empty-net goal off a Leveille faceoff win to ice the win and the third member of their line, Josh Soares, opened the scoring off a Leveille faceoff draw back to him.

The Black Bears turned in what several players considered to be one of their best performances of the season.

Maine outshot Harvard 44-26, including a 28-19 edge in high-percentage scoring chances. Maine attempted 75 shots to Harvard’s 53.

The Bears’ win was their third in five years over Harvard in the NCAA Tournament and the six goals were the most Maine has scored in an NCAA tourney game since a 7-2 win over New Hampshire in the 2002 Frozen Four in Saint Paul, Minn.

Maine had been shut out in its previous two NCAA Tournament games.

“Maine outplayed us the entire game from top to bottom. They beat us to loose pucks and we didn’t win any one-on-one battles for the puck. They deserve a lot of credit,” said Harvard coach Ted Donato, whose Crimson hadn’t allowed more than five goals in a game all year.

Maine sophomore left wing Billy Ryan agreed.

“Every one of us outworked our opponent. Very rarely did we lose any one-on-one battles throughout the whole game,” said Ryan.

Harvard had scored 24 goals in its previous three games but Maine’s forwards pressured the Crimson all over the ice and did an outstanding job cycling the puck and protecting it in the offensive zone. The Maine defensemen did a thorough job clearing the puck quickly out of the defensive zone and aggressive freshman goalie Ben Bishop was rock solid while also playing the puck effectively.

“Maine came out with a purpose and we weren’t able to match that,” said Harvard senior defenseman and captain Peter Hafner.

“We weren’t able to sustain our forecheck,” Donato said. “We spent the entire game playing against their forwards in our zone. Bishop did an outstanding job playing the puck and setting it up for his defensemen.”

The two teams swapped goals 1:16 apart when Soares scored on a screened wrister from the point and Harvard’s Mike Taylor swept home a Nick Coskren rebound. Sophomore defenseman Bret Tyler then gave Maine the lead for good with a wraparound 25 seconds later.

“[Assistant coach Grant Standbrook] has been talking to me about reading plays more effectively,” Tyler said. “They tried to pass the puck up to the wing, I picked it off and their defenseman was a little off balance so I was able to beat him wide around the net. They let me walk in front and I tried to put it low blocker [far side].”

John Hopson and Leveille extended the lead with goals 4:12 apart midway through the second period.

Hopson drove the net front and buried the rebound from a low wrister by Chris Hahn, who replaced the suspended Derek Damon in the lineup and skated onto a drop pass by John’s brother Keenan.

Leveille scored off a scintillating individual effort after working with Standbrook all week on protecting the puck while coming down the ice in a one-on-one.

“I usually wait for a two-on-one [to develop] but I knew I had a step on their guy and I wanted to take it to the net. Their goalie [John Daigneau] made the first move and I had the top righthand corner wide-open,” said Leveille, who roofed a backhander over the sprawled Daigneau.

In the third period, Moore’s empty-netter came with 3:36 left and Brent Shepheard jammed home a power-play goal with 40 seconds remaining.

Maine coach Tim Whitehead and several players said they received extra motivation from the fact very little had been written about them in the local press while Harvard, winners of the ECAC Hockey League at Pepsi Arena last weekend, received a lot of attention.

“It’s like we weren’t in the tournament. We were more than ready for Harvard. We wanted to show people we’re a good team, too,” said Whitehead.

Bishop made 13 Grade-A (high-percentage) saves among his 25 and Daigneau finished with 12 among his 38 stops.

BLACK BEARS 6, CRIMSON 1

(Saturday Afternoon)

Maine (27-11-2) 2 2 2 – 6

Harvard (21-12-2) 1 0 0 – 1

First period – 1. Maine, Soares 15 (Leveille), 8:16; 2. Harv, Taylor 5 (N. Coskren), 9:32; 3. Maine, Tyler 7 (unassisted), 9:57. Penalties: Harv, Maki, charging, 4:49; Maine, Shepheard, charging, 12:20; Harv, Fraser, holding, 12:58.

Second period – 4. Maine, J. Hopson 8 (Hahn, K. Hopson), 7:49; 5. Maine, Leveille, 15 (una.), 12:01. Penalties: Maine, J. Hopson, interference, 5:32; Harv, Johnson, goaltender interference, 9:09; Harv, Fraser, double minor, roughing, 13:50; Maine, Tyler, roughing, 13:50; Harv, Mandes, slashing, 15:01; Maine, Duffy, cross-checking, 19:01.

Third period – 6. Maine, Moore 27 (Leveille), 16:24 (en); 7. Maine, Shepheard 5 (Bellamy), 19:20 (pp). Penalties: Harv, Murphy, goaltender interference, 5:11; Maine, Jankus, holding, 10:33; Harv, Watters, hooking, 18:27.

Shots on goal: Maine 15-15-14-44; Harvard 7-6-13-26.

Goaltenders: Maine, Bishop (26 shots-25 saves); Harv, Daigneau (44-38)

High percentage scoring opportunities: Maine 8-8-12-28; Harv 5-5-9-19

Power-play opportunities: Maine 1-7, Harvard 0-4

Attendance: 5,062