The men’s soccer team fell short of making the MAAC tournament by splitting two games over the final weekend of the regular season.

Fairfield dropped the game against St. Peters, 2-1. The Stags scored the initial goal at 12 minutes when Dave Thomas ’05 launched a free kick from 45 yards, but St. Peters had the answer for the Stags late in the game. Two goals in the last 10 minutes thinned the Stag’s chances at making the postseason, as the game ended 2-1.

The Stags ended the season with a 4-0 shutout of Manhattan. Jimmy Gaughan ’07 opened the scoring at 1:10 on a pass to the middle from Bill Androutsos ’06. The Stags controlled most of the game, scoring two goals in each half. Alex Cunliffe ’07 scored the second goal, unassisted, for the Stags late in the first half.

Manhattan had trouble getting shots on goal and was limited to only one by the Stag’s defense. Androutsos and Rob Miller ’06 scored two goals in the second half to complete the win. The story of the game was Androutsos, who had one goal and two assists. Fairfield also dominated the shot-category 12-4.

Rider knocked Fairfield out of the MAAC tournament by winning the last two games of the season. Fairfield ended tied with Canisius for fifth in the league with 13 points, two points behind Rider.

They ended the season with a 7-6-3 record and 4-4-1 in the MAAC. The Stags had many injuries this year at the forward position, which hurt their chances of scoring more goals.

“I believe the injuries to many of our attacking players, for example Mike Troy, our leading scorer last season, Danny Attwell, Joe Dos Santos and Jared Curry blunted us in the crucial final third of the field,” said Coach Carl Rees.

Mike Troy ’07 has been bothered by an ankle injury all season while having seven goals last season.

This year’s team was led in goals and assists by Androutsos. He had four goals and fives assists on the season. Andrew Frankel ’06 had a 1.13 GAA and .732 save percentage. Fairfield placed in the top ten of the NCAA Division I New England rankings. The Stags have nestled in the top ten all season long.

“Overall, we had great leadership from our seniors and strong contributions from a number of the underclassmen,” said Rees. “They started off the season very strong and the highlight of the year was the come-from-behind win over Boston University.”

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