Fairfield peppered American International College goaltender Frank Novello with 59 shots but were held to just two tallies as the Stags fell to the Yellow Jackets 3-2 in the first round of the Q-Cup.
Rae Metz scored a short handed goal at 3:06 of the first period to put Fairfield ahead 1-0 and then the Stags doubled the margin at 9:02 of the same frame with a tally by Jim Lubinski.
Just three minutes later Bryan Bassler brought AIC within one when he found the back of the net from a Patrick Tabb pass. AIC evened the score at 15:29 of the first with a goal by Scott Bottorf.
Tabb would net the eventual game winner for AIC on a power play.
Fairfield went 0-5 on the power play and took six penalties for 12 minutes. AIC was 1-2 with a man advantage and took nine penalties for 18 minutes.
Freshman Michael Wolfe made 19 saves in his first collegiate start and drops to 0-1 for Fairfield. AIC rookie Frank Novello made 57 saves in goal and goes to 1-0.
The Stags (0-3) are back in action tomorrow afternoon at 4 p.m. when they play Bentley in the Q-Cup Consolation Game. AIC (1-0) will take on Quinnipiac in the Championship.
