FAIRIELD, Conn. – The Pios' first win over a nationally ranked team in the Martire Family Arena came as a milestone victory for their head coach.

Four different Sacred Heart Men's Hockey players scored, and freshman goalie Ajeet Gundarah made 27 saves in a 4-2 win over No. 18 Cornell before another big crowd.

SHU, which tied the Big Red 1-1 the night before, sprinted out of the locker room after the first intermission to put the game out of reach with a big second period. The visitors made a third-period surge, but the Pios prevailed with heroic defensive efforts.

Cole Galata's re-direction of a Hunter Sansbury shot from the point bounced over Ian Shane's shoulder to put the home team on the board first just 5:28 into the contest. Galata (3^rd goal) was in the middle of the slot with a defender on him when the pass came his way, and he managed to change the flight of the puck enough to bounce over the netminder.

"It's just another building block for us. I like what we've built here so far, and I'm happy for the guys and happy for coach getting the milestone win," said Sansbury, one of the team captains. "I think we really grew as a team, as a family, and did all the right things. We obviously got the outcome we wanted but up and down the lineup we got contributions from everyone and played as a group, which is what we want to do going forward."

The Pios struck twice in the first minute of the middle frame. Aiden VanRooyan saved the puck at the blueline in the offensive zone and sent it to the middle of the slot for Felix Trudeau, who saw John Jaworski heading for the net on his left. Trudeau sent a perfect lead pass to Jaworski who found an open side of the net for his second of the weekend and eighth of the season. A tic-tac-toe beauty that got things rolling for the Pios.

The home team added to its advantage just 34 seconds later when Max Dorrington banged in a rebound for his eighth of the year. Tyler Ghirardosi fed Matthew Guerra in the right circle, and the graduate right wing held the puck and quickly scanned his options before flicking a shot off the goalie that found Dorrington (50^th career point) crashing on the opposite side for a 3-0 lead.

The crazy bounces giveth - like SHU's first tally - and sometimes they taketh away. The Big Red got on the board when Ryan Walsh's shot bounced off the glove of Gundarah and trickled into the back of the net at 4:56 of the second.

Gundarah, who made 67 saves on 70 shots this weekend against the perennial power from ECAC Hockey, made the save of the day when Jake Kraft came racing through the lower slot and tried to tuck the puck behind the rookie goalie. Cornell still managed to cut the lead to one with 4:11 left before pulling its second goalie with 2:25 to play. Gundarah made one save against the 6-on-5, the Pios cleared the zone a few times and then Ghirardosi found the empty cage on a shot that slowly slithered down the middle of the ice before crawling in.

"We knew they were a really good team, but we weren't fully satisfied with the tie last night," said Gundarah. "The weekend was amazing, but to be honest, in the room, it's not a surprise. We know how good we are here, and we're just going to keep that going."

That tally iced the 200^th career win for SHU Head Coach CJ Marottolo, who is in his 16^th season with the Pioneers. It was certainly a milestone weekend for the young hockey program.