Fairfield’s men’s lacrosse team garnered their best victory in the seven year reign of head coach Ted Spencer, outlasting Brown University 9-8 last Sunday at home.
The Stags scored four unanswered goals in the third quarter en route to coming back from a 6-3 half-time deficit and defeat the 15th ranked Bears on University Field. Sophomore Tom Werney had two goals and two assists, and scored the game winner with just 47 seconds left to play.
“We’re very very excited about it,” said Spencer. “It’s the best win we’ve had at Fairfield since I’ve been here. We’ve gotten calls from alumni, friends, and also other coaches who all told us it was a great win. It’s huge for us.”
Spencer also pointed out how the win displayed the team maturing over the past couple of years.
“We’ve been a young team the last couple of years. This shows that our program is going in the right direction. We play a very difficult schedule, with not a lot of easy teams in there. This win gives us the confidence that we have broken the ice of contending to be in the top 20.”
The Stags jumped out to an early 1-0 lead at 10:40 of the first quarter on a goal by Troy Bamann but Brown rattled off four unanswered goals to mount a 4-1 advantage. Richard Tuohey, Jimmy Mormile, Jonathon Thompson, and Ryan Culligan scored Brown’s goals.
Rory McCarthy scored an unassisted goal with 7:02 left in the second, then Bamann would add his second of the afternoon at 5:58 to cut Fairfield’s deficit to 4-3, but Chas Gessner scored at 1:42 and Thompson added his second of the day with just 1.3 seconds left in the quarter to give Brown a 6-3 lead at halftime.
Fairfield came out strong in the third quarter, controlling the game completely. Rob Scipioni began the Fairfield comeback with an unassisted goal at 13:17, then McCarthy added his second of the day at 11:13 with an assist from Matt Buecker. Werney scored his first of the day to tie the game at 7:55 with an assist from Marc Torrey, then Buecker put Fairfield ahead when he finished a great pass from John Kusak at 3:36.
Brown’s Gessner would tie the game again at seven when he scored at 10:10 left in the fourth quarter, but Buecker would again put the Stags ahead when he forced a turnover, picked up the a groundball, walked in alone and beat the goalkeeper.
The Bears didn’t roll over, as they managed to successfully kill off three Fairfield EMO’s within the last six minutes, and with 1:29 left Gessner scored his third of the day to tie the game at eight.
Fairfield’s Peter Vlahakis, who was an impressive eleven for seventeen on draws, would win the next face-off to gain possession. After working the perimeter, Rob Scipioni dodged a defender at the top of the box but slipped and while falling to his knees dished to Werney who ripped home the game winner.
Both goalkeepers were impressive this afternoon with C.J. Kemp making 10 stops for Fairfield and Mike Levin making 11 for Brown. The win, the Stags first-ever over the Bears, improves Fairfield to 2-1, while dropping Brown to 1-1.
The Stags are back in action next Saturday when they travel to Cambridge, MA to face Harvard at 2 pm.
Spencer was optimistic about the Stags’ chances against Harvard. “We’ve beaten them the last 2 out of 3 years. They’re a very good Ivy League team and it’s a rivalry we like. It’s going to be a challenging game.”
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