Sacred Heart built a three-goal lead midway through the third period, then withstood a Fairfield charge to gain a 4-3 win Saturday at the Milford Ice Pavilion.
Fairfield controlled possession and outshot Sacred Heart 16-10 in the first frame. Freshman Cody Wojdyla opened the scoring at 3:36 of the first period on a power play with assists to Eamon Delgiacco and Hunter Greeley, but the Pioneers closed the frame with momentum as Marc Fournier found the back of the net with just 50 seconds remaining.
Sacred Heart netted three more unanswered tallies, two in the second and one in the third to run the score to 4-1. Fournier scored his second, while Barclay Folk and Martin Paquet recorded the other two.
The Pioneers dominated the bulk of the third period until 15:32, when Brian Payant, backed by Lyon Porter and Hunter Greeley tilted the ice with a goal to make the score 4-2.
At 17:44 a Sacred Heart skater was whistled for a crosscheck, giving the Stags a window of opportunity. Fairfield called timeout, pulled the goaltender, and Ryan Tormey netted the goal to bring the Stags within one with a six-on-four man advantage.
But Fairfield couldn’t complete the comeback as the Pioneers held on through the final minute and a half to preserve the win.
The loss, Fairfield’s fourth one-goal defeat of the season, drops the Stags to 4-12-2 overall and 2-8-2 in the MAAC. The win improves Sacred Heart to 6-8-2 and 6-3-1 in league play.
