Sacred Heart advances to the AHA Semifinals with 4-1 win

FAIRFIELD, Conn. – Sacred Heart, the second seed, advances to the Atlantic Hockey semifinals with a 4-1 win over seventh-seeded Air Force in the deciding third game of the AHA quarterfinals at the Martire Family Arena in Fairfield, Conn.

Sacred Heart (21-11-5) outshot Air Force, 8-0 in the first eight minutes of the game. Just two minutes into the game, Aiden VanRooyan took a shot on a 3-on-1 that was saved by Guy Blessing. SHU outshot Air Force, 12-6, in a scoreless first period.

Midway through the second period, a flurry by Air Force was shut down by SHU freshman Ajeet Gundarah. Without his stick, Gundarah dove to his right to make a save on Nolan Cunningham in a scoreless game. Late in the period, Reid Pabich forced a turnover behind the Falcon net and set up John Jaworski for a one-timer and a 1-0 lead with 1:38 left in the second.

Early in the third period, SHU took a 2-0 lead on a 2-on-1 rush as Jake Bongo scored from Michael Rubin at 4:09. The Pioneers clung to the two-goal lead until late in the third period. Air Force pulled the goalie with 5:23 remaining, but SHU winger Pabich sent a puck from deep in his own end into the empty net with 4:41 left in the game. Air Force pulled the goalie again and Cole Galata scored an empty-netter from the neutral zone with 3:25 left. With 1:09 left, Clayton Cosentino scored from Chris Hedden and Austin Schwartz to make up the final margin.

"I'm really proud of the guys," head coach Frank Serratore said. "This group had a lot of spirit and fight in them. We really were playing our best hockey down the stretch. I thought Sacred Heart was better tonight and they generated some opportunities early. Blessing made a couple really big saves for us. We were offensively challenged all year. There were a lot of nights we didn't score enough goals and tonight was one of them."

Air Force's season ends with a 16-21-3 overall record.

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