The final stretch of the season is always the hardest for a team. The Fairfield Stags’ men’s soccer team enters the final stretch after a weekend that started badly, but ended on a good note. The Stags started Friday night’s game against Loyola hoping to continue their undefeated Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference season and move closer to clinching the regular season championship. Instead, the Stags fell 1-0 to Loyola, making their road to the MAAC Championship a harder one.
The Stags were able to bounce back on Sunday afternoon, with a win over Rider College, 1-0, on Senior Day. Loyola’s loss to Iona also on Sunday moved the Stags’ back into first place in the MAAC with 18 points, but Niagara University is hot on their heels with 17. The Stags and Niagara meet up on for the final game of the season next Sunday, in a game that could decide the regular season championship.
Friday’s game against Loyola was played under tough conditions, with strong winds playing a major role. Head coach Carl Rees felt that the wind affected the outcome of the game saying, “wind is a massive factor in the game of soccer, more than any element.” The wind knocked many balls down out of the air and took shots in strange directions, putting the ball into and out of dangerous positions. Fairfield did have chances to score, but were not able to capitalize on scoring opportunities, while Loyola capitalized on a two on one break to score the game’s lone goal.
“We didn’t take chances and we did not convert our opportunities,” said freshman forward Paul McQuade, “I thought we played very well, but have to finish our opportunities in order to win.”
Rees felt that Fairfield was the better team on Friday night and believed that the team would move on to the next game.
“I thought we were the best team on the field tonight,” Rees said after the game, “We just have to win. We need to focus on winning against Rider on Sunday.”
On Sunday the Stags’ focused on the win and accomplished their goal. Freshman Christian Uy scored his fourth game-winning goal of the season, his fifth overall, just ten minutes into the game to give his team the lead. Sam Bailey `08 and Alex Cunliffe `07 had assists on the goal. Cunliffe’s point was the 34th of his career, which moves him into the top ten career points list. Cunliffe has sixteen points on the season to lead the team.
Sunday began with a celebration of the careers of the five senior members of the team, Cunliffe, Mike Troy, Jimmy Gaughan, Robbie Gallina, and Mike Calabrese, who played their final game at Lessing Field. All five members of the team have played important roles on the team in their careers and will be remembered not only for their on the field accomplishments, but also their off the field contributions.
The seniors were 37-22-10 over their career and were nationally ranked three times. Off the field the five players are all great friends and have great characters. Coach Rees believes that it will be just as hard to replace the players on the field as it will be off the field.
“The thing that I will miss most about this group of guys is their personalities,” Rees said, “It will be hard to replace the character that they all bring to this team.”
The five seniors all believe that they will miss being with the team the most, they came to a consensus saying, “we will miss the day to day soccer, the games on the weekends, and the great friends we have made here. We will definitely miss the comradely that we have with the other players and the coaches.”
The Stags’ now head into their final two games of the season next weekend, as they make the trip to Buffalo to face Canisius on Friday and Niagara on Sunday. If the Stags’ can win both of those games, they will win the MAAC Regular Season Championship.
Coach Rees feels that it will take a team effort to prepare for the final weekend.
“It is going to be a team effort, with the players, the coaches, Mark Spellman the strength and conditioning coach, and our athletic trainer Scott Atkin all playing important roles. We need to be physically and mentally ready to focus on the final games and then the playoffs.”
“All of the guys are on board,” Rees added.
The Stags’ return home for the MAAC playoffs in two weeks.
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