Lincoln opened scoring for the night 14:53 into the first period as Blake Montgomery found Ryan Spinale at the bottom of the left circle to made it a 1-0 game.

Will Moore (Ithaca, N.Y.), who stole the puck from the Stars and took off on the breakaway but was slashed from behind, was awarded a penalty shot 3:57 into the middle frame, but was unable to put the puck in the net.

Murtagh leveled the score with 6:02 left in the period. Carter Amico (Westbrook, Maine) found Murtagh in the crease, who deked out Lincoln netminder Lucas Massie to score one stick-side.

Less than a minute later, Montgomery buried a wrister from the right circle to regain the Stars' lead heading into the final frame.

Cole McKinney (Lake Forest, Ill.) took off on a one-on-one breakaway at the 12-minute mark of the third, but couldn't convert on the opportunity for Team USA.

An empty-net tally by Keaton Peters brought the final score to 3-1.