Falcons fall at Sacred Heart, 5-3

FAIRFIELD, Conn. – Sacred Heart's John Jaworksi scored the game-winner with 4:13 remaining in a 5-3 win over Air Force in an Atlantic Hockey game Saturday, Feb. 11, at the Martire Family Arena in Fairfield, Conn.

Sacred Heart (15-13-2, 13-7-2 AHA) took control early with a pair of goals in the first nine minutes of the opening period. Austin Magera put the Pioneers on the board first with a wrister from the left circle at 3:27. SHU took a 2-0 lead at 8:25 when Chikara Hanzawa scored his first career goal after skating around the back of the net and scoring from right in front. SHU outshot Air Force, 15-2, in the first 12 minutes. However, the Falcons turned the tide in the final eight minutes, out-shooting the Pioneers, 11-7. The Falcons cut the lead in half after Mason McCormick won a faceoff in the offensive zone. Austin Schwartz's shot was saved, but the puck slipped past the goalie and Holt Oliphant tapped it in for his third career goal at 16:44. Twenty seconds later, the Pioneers seemed to take a 3-1 lead. However, a video review disallowed the goal as it did not fully cross the line. Maiszon Balboa made a diving stick save on a shot by Kevin Lombardi. The puck jumped over the stick of Balboa and was sitting on the goal line. Falcon winger Bennett Norlin cleared the puck off the goal line and the Falcons trailed 2-1 after the first 20 minutes.

Air Force (11-17-2, 7-12-1 AHA) tied the game early in the second period. Willie Reim started the rush in his own end setting up a give-and-go between Clayton Cosentino and Nate Horn. Horn gave it back to Cosentino who was wide open with speed in the center of the ice. The sophomore from San Carlos, Calif., scored his fifth of the season at 3:19 to tie the game at 2-2. The Pioneers answered on the power play at 7:02 as Neil Shea scored on a wrap-around for a 3-2 lead. Late in the period, the Falcons had several quality chances as Will Gavin hit a post with 10:30 left and then the line of Cosentino, Horn and Reim had several chances on a flurry with two minutes left.

Falcon junior Will Gavin tied the game at 3-3 with 5:11 left in the third with a wrister from the center point. Defensemen Brandon Koch and Luke Rowe assisted on Gavin's team-leading 11^th of the season. However, 58 seconds later, Pioneer winger Chikara Hanzawa created some space on the right side and his shot was blocked. Jaworksi collected the loose puck and scored with 4:13 left in the third. On a power play, the Falcons pulled the goalie with 1:45 left for a 6-on-4 advantage for about a minute. Braeden Tuck sealed the win with an empty-net goal with six seconds left.

Air Force outshot Sacred Heart, 40-34, in the game. The Falcons were 0-for-4 on the power play while SHU was 1-for-4. Balboa made 30 saves for the Falcons while Luke Lush made 37 for the home team.

"We knew they would come out with high octane early and they did," head coach Frank Serratore said. "They have some talented, dynamic guys. Give them credit, they were trying to get a first round knockout. They exerted a tremendous amount of battery acid in the first. We played a little better as the game went and we had the majority of the energy in the second and third periods. But we chased the scoreboard the entire night. After we got through that first period, this was a very winnable game for us. It was unfortunate that we didn't get points tonight. We have to move on as things are happening fast right now. We travel home on Sunday and we strap it up against Canisius on Monday and Tuesday."

Air Force returns home to host a two-game series against Canisius, Monday-Tuesday, Feb. 13-14, at the Cadet Ice Arena. This is the series that was rescheduled from Dec. 30-31 due to the weather in Buffalo in late December.

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Team Stats

Brandon Koch

Will Gavin

Holt Oliphant

Clayton Cosentino

Players Mentioned

Maiszon Balboa

Clayton Cosentino

Will Gavin

Nate Horn

Brandon Koch

Mason McCormick

Bennett Norlin

Holt Oliphant

Willie Reim

Luke Rowe

Austin Schwartz

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