Fairfield snapped a seven-game winless streak with its first-ever win over Air Force Sunday, 3-0, at the Wonderland of Ice.
Sophomore Andrew Martin collected his first collegiate shutout while classmate Cody Wojdyla recorded the winning goal.
Neither team had many quality scoring chances through the first period until 15:31, when Wojdyla picked a bouncing puck clean out of the air, putting it past the sliding goaltender’s right pad. Eamon Delgiacco and Lyon Porter collected assists on the tally, and the Stags finished the first frame with a 1-0 lead.
At 4:20 of the second, senior Steve Calderara doubled the margin when he rocketed one from the top of the circle that deflected off AFA goalie Mike Polidor’s shoulder and into the net. The goal, a power-play tally, was set up off Rae Metz’s faceoff win to Dan Cotter, who fed Calderara at the point.
Air Force had two quality scoring chances off rushes, and also had several opportunities off a second-period power play, but did not score.
The highlight of the night came at 13:19 of the third, when sophomore Lyon Porter collected a cross-ice pass from Wojdyla, juked the closing defender with a nifty toe drag move, then beat a sliding Polidor above the glove with a short-side goal.
With two minutes to go, Air Force head coach Frank Serratore called time out and pulled his goalie. After what seemed an eternity and at least a dozen Fairfield defensive-zone whistles, time finally ran out on the Falcons and the Stags claimed their first win since November 3.
Martin made 17 stops between the pipes for Fairfield, while his counterpart Polidor had 20 saves in goal for Air Force. Fairfield outshot the Falcons 23-17.
