Fairfield field hockey played two games last weekend, beginning with a trip to Lawrenceville, NJ to take on Rider University for their first Northeast Conference game of the young season.
The game started off slowly with no offense breaking through for either team through the first 11 minutes of play until Rider converted a penalty corner to take the one-nothing lead. The early goal would be the only one of the match as the Stags were unable to put an equalizer past Broncs goalie Jade Regnart, who had a shutout in net.
The Stags put together a relatively dominant performance on the stat sheet, outshooting the Broncs 14-6 and having eight shots on goal to Rider’s five.
The Stags’ strongest quarter came in the second half as they came out firing in the third quarter. Rider saw the Stags put up eight shots in the 15-minute span including a two-minute stretch where the Stags saw four penalty corners and four shots on net all turned away by Regnart, who capped off the stand by turning away a Stags penalty stroke.
The fourth quarter saw Rider turn back on the offense as they threatened the Stags multiple times, but fifth-year goalie Emily Streib stood tall in net not allowing Rider to take a two-goal lead.
The Stags saw one final opportunity to score in the final seconds of the game with Madison Milhous ‘25 putting one past Regnart but it flew just wide of the net.
Fairfield returned home to host the University of Maine on Sunday, September 29th. The Stags were outshot 12-9 and saw Maine put more shots on goal with nine to their seven. However, Streib played a strong game in net with a season-high eight saves compared to the Black Bears’ five.
The Stags came out hot allowing just three shots in the first half and scoring a goal of their own to take the lead 1-0. The Fairfield goal came 20 minutes into the game off a Fairfield penalty corner where the Stags garnered two shots from Agustina Casteluchi ‘25 and Rylee LaLoup ‘26 which led to a scramble and another Stag penalty corner. The Stags were able to convert on this one with Alice Pifferi ‘26 dropping a pass perfectly for Pilar Mengotti ‘26 to hit a one-timer and blow it by the Black Bears’ defense.
The teams went into the half with the Stags up 1-0. The third quarter saw Maine generate a lot of offensive opportunities but they were unable to convert on any with Streib having five of her eight saves in this quarter. The Stags scored their second goal early in the fourth quarter again off a penalty corner with Pifferi passing it to Casteluchi who then sent it on to Konni Hofmann ‘26 who put one past the Black Bears giving the Stags a 2-0 advantage.
However, the Fairfield lead did not stay at two for long as less than a minute later the Black Bears earned a penalty corner and set up a quick pass and shot to get within one on the Stags.
For the rest of the quarter Fairfield was able to control possession with a passive strategy forcing Maine to chase them around the field. It worked for the most part but Maine still got four penalty corners and three shots off their chances with the final scare coming with just nine seconds left in the game. Streib was able to stop any chances Maine had of tying it up and the Stags ran out the clock to secure a much-needed victory.
The game put Streib’s goals against on average down to 1.42 after she has had 20 saves in her last three starts. The win moved the Stags to 3-5 and Maine to 7-4. Fairfield will host NEC foe Wagner College at home on Friday, October 4th, and Mercyhurst College on Sunday. For more information visit fairfieldstags.com.
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