The Fairfield University Field Hockey Team clinched a berth in the American East Tournament for the first time in program history in dramatic fashion on Saturday.
They Stags played in a tournament clinching game versus Vermont and upset them with a 3-2 win 17 seconds in overtime.
This secured the Stags spot in the American East tournament which takes place November 2-4.
“Deserved. We deserved it. We made the game closer than we wanted it to be obviously. We truly are one of the top four teams in the conference this year so we are looking forwards to opportunity to win and play in our conference,” said Coach Jackie Kane when asked how it felt to be able to have a spot in the tournament.
Senior goalkeeper Maddy Sposito had a big game for the Stags, making two saves that kept the Stags in the game. Sposito, along with the rest of the team were incredibly excited to be among the four teams headed to the Tournament.
“It’s such a great opportunity and I can’t wait to replay those teams again and hopefully the outcome will be in our favor this time,” Said Sposito.
To cap off a big weekend, the Stags had their senior day on Sunday along with Breast Cancer Awareness Day. The day became even more special when the Stags defeated the University of Pennsylvania 4-2.
“Senior Day was just way beyond anything I could have expected. The underclassmen really went above and beyond for us,” Sposito said. “
Freshman Kaitlyn Taddeo was a vital part of the two victories this past weekend, earning the America East Rookie-of-the-Week award. The forward clinched the award when she assisted on the game-winning goal against Vermont.
One day later, Taddeo came off the bench to assist on two of the team’s four goals in their win over Pennsylvania. She also set up the tying goal and the fourth goal for the Stags.
In 18 game appearances, the freshman has nine points, which includes two goals and five assists.
Coach Kane and the Stags have a 10-8 record and a 1-3 mark in the American East this season. The Stags will close out their regular season October 27th against a very strong Boston University team on the road.
“BU will be great for us because they are one of the strong teams in the conference, so we can go in there and use it play to win and put ourselves to learn how to win in the tournament,” said Coach Kane.
Sposito sees the game as an opportunity to further show the growth of the team in her four years with the team.
“When I was a freshman, we were losing to BU and UNH 6-0 and 8-0 and some obscure scores. And now this year, we’re not only competing with them, there were times in all of those games [that they lost in the America East] where we were dominating and winning the game for the most part,” said Sposito.
The Stags look to capture this final regular season win, and head into the tournament with a three game win streak.
Leave a Reply