WATERTOWN, Mass. – Sacred Heart scored four times in the 3^rd period to overcome a 1-0 deficit to take game one from Bentley University, 4-1 on Friday night in the opening game of the Atlantic Hockey first round series.

The Falcons led 1-0 after two periods after defenseman Alexey Solovyev (Moscow, Russia/Lone Star) scored midway through the first period. But Sacred Heart scored four times in the 3^rd period to secure the game one victory, making the Falcons face an elimination game tomorrow night.

The Pioneers tied it 1-1 on a goal by defenseman Mike Crocock 2:13 into the 3^rd period. The score remained that way for the next eight minutes, until right wing Vito Bavaro put the Pioneers in front 2-1, as he converted a rebound in front of the net off a saved shot from left wing Evan Jasper.

Bentley searched for the tying goal over the next seven-plus minutes, but it was SHU that got the all-important next goal. It came from senior center Justin Danforth at the 17:23 mark, off a feed from left wing Stephen Hladin, to take a 3-1 lead.

Sacred Heart the sealed it with an empty-net goal from Hladin with 44 seconds remaining.

The Falcons got on the scoreboard first at 10:36 of the first via Solovyev's 7^th goal of the season. Left winger Matt Riggleman (Milford, Mich./Sioux Falls) got the play started with a shot on net that was saved by SHU goalie Brett Magnus. Solovyev though crashed the net and fought through traffic to poke the rebound past Magnus to give Bentley a 1-0 lead.

Late in the period, Bentley's penalty kill sprang into action to successfully kill off a Pioneers 5-on-3 power play. With Solovyev already in the box, the PK killed off the two man-advantage for SHU for 16 seconds after a slashing penalty.

Neither team could score in the 2^nd period, despite a combined 24 shots on goal. Bentley had a 14-10 edge in shots during the period.

Bentley will look to stave off elimination in tomorrow night's game two at the JAR. Face-off time is 7:05 pm.