Fairfield jumped out to a two-goal first period lead, but gave up four unanswered second-period goals en route to a 6-4 loss to Bentley this afternoon in the consolation game of the seventh annual Q-Cup.
Sophomore Jack Devaney put Fairfield on the board just under two minutes into regulation. Junior Jim Lubinski made it 2-0, off assists by Brian Payant and Hunter Greeley.
Bentley owned the second period, however, as Ryan Mahew would net two, while Andy Peters and Paul Markarian would each net one. The Falcons finished the second frame with a 4-2 lead.
The Stags came out of the gate strong in the third as Cody Wojdyla scored a power-play goal at 6:57 off assists by Rae Metz and Steve Calderara, but Gus Labelle answered for the Falcons at 12:52 to regain the two-goal advantage.
With four minutes to go, Fairfield head coach Jim Hunt pulled the goaltender, only to have Bentley find the empty net and make it 6-3. The Stags mounted pressure through the last two minutes and sophomore Lyon Porter netted a goal off a deflected shot by Jim Lubinski that was also redirected by Tom Palladino. But in the end Fairfield would fall short.
Sophomore Michael Wolfe made 20 saves in goal tonight for the Stags and suffers his first loss of the season. Simon St. Pierre made 35 stops in net for the Falcons and recorded his first win of the year.
As a team, the Stags outshot the Falcons 39-26, but were just 1-for-7 compared to Bentley’s 1-for-4 with a man advantage.
Fairfield will be off until a week from tonight when it travels to Burlington, Vt. to face the Catamounts (7 p.m.).
