Air Force ran out of gas in the second period.
The Falcons scored a late equalizer in the first period to enter the break with a tie game, but host Sacred Heart University scored twice in the middle frame to pull away for a 4-1 win over Air Force in the Game 1 of the Atlantic Hockey America quarterfinals.
Sacred Heart’s John Jaworski and Max Dorrington scored at 3:14 and 6:54 to earn a lead that the Pioneers never relinquished.
Sacred Heart goalie Ajeet Gundarah made 29 saves as the Falcons outshot the Pioneers 30-23.
Tyler Ghirardosi scored Sacred Heart’s final goal of the evening on an empty net with 13 seconds remaining in the game.
Game analysis and insights from The Gazette sports staff including columns by Woody Paige and Paul Klee.
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The score was Ghirardosi’s second of the evening. He opened up the game’s scoring at 4:02 of the first period. He redirected a shot from teammate John Driscoll.
The Falcons responded late in the period at 18:44 right after an Air Force power play expired. Anthony Yu scored his second goal in as many games. Falcons senior winger and co-captain Austin Schwartz put a puck toward the goal that was saved, but it snuck past Gundarah and Yu was there for the put back.
“They did a better job of putting the puck in the net than we did,” Air Force coach Frank Serratore said in a postgame radio interview. “We were chasing the scoreboard again. We had some good looks and we held our own territorially. We will come back tomorrow and we need to do a better job of finding the back of the net.”
Air Force senior netminder Guy Blessing finished with 19 saves.
The Falcons’ season will be on the line as they play Game 2 on Saturday at 3 p.m.
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