The seniors of the Fairfield’s women’s soccer team couldn’t have been happier with the outcome of their game when they defeated Canisius 3-0 on Oct. 18. All three goals were scored by the seniors of the team, two by Ashley Small ‘15 and another by Torey Camporini ‘15.
Camporini set the tone of the game, putting the first goal on the board for the Stags just about nine minutes into the game.
“Torey had a very solid performance today,” said Head Coach Jim O’Brien. “She gave us quite a few minutes and during the second half, settled us down possession wise.”
The team, anchored heavily by the nine seniors on the team, went on to take five more shots before Small was able to net the second goal for the team, putting them ahead 2-0. Canisius struggled to get past any of Fairfield’s defense led by Jessica Broadbent ‘15 and they were only able to take five shots against the Stags, while Fairfield was able to take 12. Senior Kathleen Early was able to make three saves for her team, two more than the Golden Griffins’ were able to save.
Heading into the second half of the game, Canisius made an attempt to score against the Stags, but were unsuccessful; during the second half, Canisius had fouled 10 times. Junior Karolyn Collins was a driving force for the team, constantly bringing the ball up the field and giving her team the opportunity to take 16 shots against Canisius. Although the team struggled to get one of these shots in the net, Small was finally able to break through and put her second goal on the board for the Stags after beating Canisius’ defenders to the goal. On her senior day, Small couldn’t have been happier with the two goals she had finally scored.
“It felt great to score the two goals and I felt incredibly blessed to finally be able to put some goals in especially after the dry spell I’ve been in,” said Small. “And what better day to do it than on senior day.”
Now comfortably ahead 3-0, O’Brien decided to retire his seniors from the field with just about seven minutes left in the game. As the underclassmen headed onto the field, the seniors stood together with their coach as applause erupted from the stands.
“Their record speaks for themselves,” said O’Brien. “I’ve won almost 40 percent of my wins as a collegiate team with the seniors and I think the type of people they are, the families they’re from, the kind of upbringing they have, their families should be very proud of them.”
With the success that O’Brien has seen from his seniors, he can only hope that his younger athletes will have transformed as a result of the play they have observed from the upperclassmen.
“This is a very resilient team and the bottom line is that the reason why we are as successful as we are is because of the seniors,” said O’Brien. “They figure out ways to win, whoever the player is, one day to the next, that senior laden team makes the difference.”
Winning the game 3-0, the seniors of the team gathered around Lessing Field, one of the last times they’ll stand with their team. Small, who has made one of the biggest impacts on the program, added that being without the team next year will be extremely difficult.
“This has truly been an amazing experience. Next year, I won’t be seeing these people every day and they’re my heart and soul right now,” said Small. “It’s going to be hard to not see them every day at practice and at games and it’s going to make a big difference in life.”
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