On September 18th, Fairfield men’s soccer entered its road contest against Columbia University sporting an 0-6 record. With four of those losses coming by a single goal, the Stags seemed to be on the brink of a breakthrough, just needing an extra boost to get over the hump. That night in New York City, they got one from junior midfielder Will Pierce.
Pierce put together a career performance, finding the back of the net three times for his first collegiate hat trick to power the Stags to their inaugural win of the season.
“I don’t think it was really all me,” he said. “It was definitely a whole team performance that won us over. Coach Krystian really talks about focusing on the process, and even though we had a few poor results, everyone maintained a lot of discipline and didn’t get too mad or too down about it.”
Either way, Pierce has undoubtedly put in the work to prepare himself for moments like that. Growing up in New Zealand, he dedicated countless hours to improving his game with the hopes of one day going pro.
“When I was younger, like 13, 14, I was in a national talent center where we trained five or six times a week, and then had two games on the weekend,” Pierce said, “and because they just drilled into us ‘soccer, soccer, soccer’, I actually got sick of it.”
He considered quitting the sport entirely and turning instead to field hockey, which the rest of his family plays. But spending a year bouncing back and forth between the two helped confirm to Pierce that soccer was his passion.
Recommitting himself to the sport and to his training, Pierce rose through the ranks of organized soccer in his home country. Eventually he earned a spot on Christchurch United, a national club at the highest level of New Zealand soccer short of the Isuzu UTE A-League, which is merged with Australia.
After two years there, Pierce set his sights on professional opportunities in England and Australia. But when talks fell through, he found his way to Fairfield instead.
“I was approached by my agent, and he talked about this opportunity of coming to America,” Pierce said. “I thought it was a great opportunity for me to play soccer full time and to get my degree out of it.”
Entering Fairfield as a sophomore in 2023 after studying for a year back home, Pierce had an instant impact on the field, tallying a team-best 13 points on six goals and one assist.
True to his hard-working mentality, however, the success didn’t stop him from spending his summer down in Florida playing in USL League Two, a semi-pro league designed for college players seeking to continue working in the offseason.
Pierce’s team, Sarasota Paradise, finished first in their division, and he tallied seven goals and five assists in 13 appearances.
“I think I’ve gained a lot of composure on the ball,” he said, “and having a really good summer season down in Florida helped me gain a lot of momentum going into the year.”
Spurred on by that momentum, Pierce has already tallied five goals and an assist this season, putting him on pace to easily surpass last year’s output with five games remaining on the schedule.
The signature performance at Columbia, which earned Pierce Conference Offensive Player of the Week honors, also has served as a turning point for the team. Including that win, the Stags have lost just once in their last six contests, a stretch highlighted by a 2-1 win over Marist and a hard-fought draw with nationally ranked University of Connecticut.
“I think the Columbia game and the UConn game after that were the first games where we really understood the principles we were trying to implement,” Pierce said. “From that moment on, we’ve carried the momentum really well.”
For as hard as he works on the pitch, Pierce puts in similar effort off of it. As a finance and accounting double major, he strikes a delicate balance juggling his responsibilities as a student and an athlete, often scheduling out his work to ensure it doesn’t conflict with his game and practice schedules.
In spite of all his commitments, he’s even managed to line up an internship with Deloitte in the coming months.
“I prioritize school quite a bit,” Pierce said. “For me it’s just about making sure I know what’s coming up so that I can plan ahead, like if I have a project and an exam coming up, doing the project a week in advance so I have time on the weekend to study for the exam. I like to feel like I’m pretty productive.”
Pierce has aspirations for himself and his team that are fitting of the work he puts in, hoping that the recent string of success can act as a springboard to greater heights.
“I think we can seriously contend for winning the MAAC, and I think it’s definitely an achievable goal,” he said. “Personally, I’d like to improve on my statistics and my overall impact on the game. I felt like last year, while I put in a few stats, I thought I didn’t affect the game as much as I could have, but I think that’s changed this year.”
The individual performances will go a long way in helping Pierce achieve his ultimate goal, which is to play professionally in England.
“I first just want to go professional out of college, and work my way up wherever that may be,” he said. “But I definitely want to end up in England no matter what. My parents lived there for 10 years so I have a UK passport, and I just want to play there and push it and see how far I can go.”
If his previous successes are any indication, greatness will follow him wherever he chooses to go.
Pierce and the Stags are back in action tonight at 7 P.M. against new conference foe Merrimack. Fans can visit merrimackathletics.com to watch the game.
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