Facing strong winds and a tough Loyola College team, the Fairfield Stags’ men’s soccer team lost their first Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) game of the season. The Stags, who entered the game with a 5-0 record and first place in the MAAC lost their second straight home game. The cold temperature and strong winds played a major role in the game, knocking many balls out of the air and into dangerous areas. Loyola scored a goal with ten minutes left in the first half and then shut down the Stags to pick up the win.
“Wind a massive factor, more than any other element,” Coach Carl Rees said.
The Stags played solid soccer, but could not capitalize on the scoring chances that they had.
“We didn’t take chances and we did not convert on opportunities,” said freshman forward Paul McQuade, “I thought we played well, but we have got to finish on the opportunities in order to win.”
The Stags had a scoring chance just a few minutes into the game, as Alex Cunliffe `07 brought the ball down towards the goal, but the Loyola goalie made a good save on Cunliffe’s cross. Fairfield stopped an attack from Loyola, and Stags’ goalie Jon Paul Francini `08 sent a long kick down the field to Sam Bailey `08, who had broken free into the Loyola box. Bailey leaped and got his head on the ball, but it went just wide of the goal.
Fairfield continued to put the pressure on as another long pass, this one from Cunliffe, went to David Piederahita `10, who had used his speed to get down the side of the field. Piederahita took the ball and looked to cross it, but the wind knocked the ball down mid air, sending it away from the goal. Cunliffe sent another long ball to Bailey, who misjudged it, as the ball got into the wind and sailed farther than Bailey had expected.
The Stags’ had two great scoring chances in the first half, both from Alex Cunliffe. The first came with twenty-four minutes left in the half, as Piederahita sent the ball to Cunliffe, who put his head on it, sending it just over the net, past the outstretched goaltender. The second came off of a Cunliffe pass, who sent the ball to fellow senior captain Jimmy Gaughan blocked the ball out of danger. Ten minutes later, Loyola broke free once again, and Gaughan was left to cover two players. One Loyola player sent the ball past Gaughan to his fellow Loyola player, who put the ball past Francini to give Loyola a 1-0 lead.
“I thought we played a strong first half,” said McQuade, “We just didn’t finish on our scoring chances.”
Fairfield kept the pressure on Loyola, pushing the ball towards the net, but tough Loyola defense did not allow the Stags’ to get many shots on goal. The Stags’ best scoring chances again came from Cunliffe, just two minutes into the half, as he leapt up for a deflected header, and did a bicycle kick, sending the ball towards the goal, but a good save by the Loyola keeper stopped Fairfield from tying the game.
Loyola played in a defensive formation, locking down and keeping the Stags’ out of the net the rest of the half. Coach Rees felt that the Stags’ were the better team throughout the game.
“I thought that we were the best team on the field tonight,” said Rees, “Loyola capitalized on a scoring chance.”
“Loyola had there chance and took it and was then able to sit in their own half and counter attack and were effective at doing that,” added Rees.
McQuade feels that the Stags’ will get past this loss and move on to Sunday’s game against Rider.
“We’ll put this game behind us,” said McQuade, “It was a tough loss, but we will move on to the next game against Rider.”
Coach Rees agreed with McQuade saying, “we just have got to win, we need three points to clinch a MAAC playoff spot and we need to focus on Sunday and winning against Rider.”
The Stags hit the pitch at 1:00 PM on Lessing Field for the final home game of the season. The five senior Stags’ will be honored before the game.
Remaining Schedule:
Sunday 10/22/06 vs. Rider at Fairfield, CT 1:00 PM
Friday 10/27/06 vs. Canisius at Buffalo, N.Y. 7:00 PM
Sunday 10/29/06 vs. Niagara at Buffalo, N.Y. 1:00 PM
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