Jake Knostman of Bainbridge Island scored two goals in his first game for Fairfield University as the Stags opened their season with an 18-8 win over the University of Delaware.

Knostman — a midfielder — is a rookie on the team, and was one of seven Stags who found the back of the net against the Blue Hens in the Feb. 15 season opener. Fairfield was led by Tristan Sperry, a junior, and Eric Warden, a senior, who each tallied five goals and an assist to pace the Stags to the victory on the road.

Delaware (1-2) struck first at the 13:47 mark in the first quarter. Sperry tied it up just 44 seconds later with a solo tally. Warden gave the Stags a 2-1 lead at 12:09 with an unassisted goal. TJ Neubauer and Knostman also delivered unassisted goals for the 4-1 advantage.

The Blue Head cut it to 4-3 with just over five minutes left in the period but Warden connected with Colin McLinden at 1:49 to swing the momentum back to Fairfield.

The Blue Hens netted the first goal of the second quarter, but the Stags put home three unanswered goals to take an 8-4 advantage into halftime. Delaware scored first in the third quarter, but Fairfield answered with three straight goals to open up an 11-5 lead.

Delaware scored at 2:36 but with one second remaining, Sperry found Warden to make it a six goal lead.

Fairfield (1-0) made it 13-7 at the start of the fourth quarter as rookie Dave Fleming scored his first collegiate goal at 12:42. It was the first of six goals in which the Stags would score in the frame. Fairfield’s final tally came at 4:44 as Conor Dalton tallied his first goal of the season.

In net, senior Jack Murphy stopped eight shots and picked up five ground balls in 57 minutes of action while rookie Tyler Behring made his collegiate debut, playing the final three minutes of the game, and did not face any shots.

Fairfield is off until Feb. 22, when they host Manhattan College.