Freshman Lyon Porter scored the game-winner in the third period, lifting the Stags to an upset victory over Quinnipiac, 5-3 Friday night.
On the winning play, Porter forced a turnover at the Fairfield blue line, creating a two-on-one and getting a shot from the right faceoff dot that beat QU goaltender Justin Eddy low to the short side.
Fairfield jumped out of the gate early with a power-play goal by Steve Calderara just 3:04 into the first period. Junior Rae Metz doubled the Stags’ lead at 11:01 of the same frame with assists to Ryan Tormey and Jim Lubinski.
But Quinnipiac’s Ryan Olsen brought the Braves within one on a power play at 13:22 when he one-timed a Matt Craig pass just under the crossbar.
Dan Ennis evened the score for Quinnipiac exactly one minute into the second with an unassisted goal off a Fairfield turnover, and Brian Herbert put the Braves ahead 3-2 when he buried a rebound off a Wade Winkler shot that hit the crossbar.
Junior Casey Laflamme brought the Stags back to even with Fairfield’s second power-play goal at 15:11 of the second when he popped home a rebound off a Nick Stead shot from in tight.
The two teams traded scoring chances early in the third before Porter netted the winner. Less than eight minutes later, Laflamme would add an insurance goal when he collected his own rebound and beat the Brave tender with a backhand shot.
Craig Schnappinger was sharp in goal for Fairfield, making 24 saves and collecting his first win of the season. For the Braves, Eddy made 16 saves before being pulled for Jamie Holden, who came into make five stops. The Braves edged the Stags in shots 27-26, but were 2-7 on the power play compared to Fairfield’s 2-4.
