Once again the Stags played a tough, back and forth game against Dartnouth College, who won the Ivy League Championship and played in the NCAA Tournament the past two seasons. The overtime game, unlike the one against the University of Hartford, was a Stag victory.
After just one and a half minutes of overtime, Paul McQuade `10 sent a cross to Aldo Hope `09, who put the ball into the net to win the game for the Stags. The Stags’ record improved to 4-2-1 and the team increased it’s regular season unbeaten streak at Lessing Field to 11 games. Fairfield is 8-0-3 during that stretch, which started with the final game of the 2004 season.
Hope, who is from Trinidad, said after the game, “It was good to get the win. It will really give us momentum going into the MAAC season.”
Dartmouth began the game strong, when the Big Green stole the ball and scored taking a 1-0 lead, just 2 minutes into the game. After that point, however, the Stags took over and dominated the second half.
“We really seemed to snap out of it after the first goal,” said Coach Carl Rees, “we started slowly but were able to come back and take over the game. That really showed the depth of character this team has and how competitive these guys are.”
Captain Mike Troy `07, made the pass to Sam Bailey `08, but Bailey was taken down outside the box setting up a free kick for Alex Cunliffe `07 who drilled the ball into the right corner of the net, past Dartmouth goalie, Sean Milligan, tying the score at 1-1.
“We had the crowd behind us and we really wanted to get back into the game after that first score by Dartmouth, and we were able to capitalize on an opportunity.” said Cunliffe, who said the fans helped push the team to win.
Five hundred students attended, creating the rowdy crowd that was supportive of the Stags for the second straight game.
With 28 minutes left in the half, Dartmouth broke free and threatened to score, but Fairfield goalie Jon Paul Francini `08 stopped the Big Green’s shot. Minutes later, Francini made a nice save on a header and Dartmouth broke towards the net once again, but missed on a shot just to the left of the net.
Fairfield turned up the heat in the final fifteen minutes of the half, as Jimmy Gaughan `07 played the ball towards Paul McQuade ’10, who turned the ball towards the net and took a hard shot at the goal, but missed when the ball hit the crossbar and went over the net. Mike Troy ’07 had a chance to score on a header two minutes later and Big Green goalie Gilligan, leaped and saved the shot, glancing his head off of the bar on the way up.
The first half was very physical, as 15 fouls were called by the referees, 10 on Fairfield. Two yellow cards were handed out, one to Dartmouth and the other to Fairfield’s Paul McQuade. McQuade was injured in the last minute of the half, but returned in the second half assisting the winning goal, his third of the season.
“Paul is a tough, Scottish kid,” said Coach Rees. “He was able to come back and played an important role in the rest of the game.”
Complaining and hard fouls from both sides led to the referees handing out three yellow cards in the second half, two on Dartmouth and one on the Stag’s Alex Cunliffe ’07.
Both Fairfield and Dartmouth had chances to take the lead, but neither side was able to capitalize. Cunliffe, the team’s best passer, sent a ball to Mike Calabrese `07, who nearly put the ball into the net. With six minutes left in the game, Cunliffe scored two shots and Tom Skara `08 and Tom Clements `09 attempted two headers which nearly squeaked into the net. Dartmouth almost had the win at the end of the half, but Francini finished the game with nine saves.
With under a minute to play, David Piedrahita `10, broke towards the corner of the field, was fouled, and set up a free kick with 20 seconds left, sending the game into overtime.
Paul McQuade and Aldo Hope, sent the winning ball into the right corner of the net giving Fairfield the 2-1 win.
“It was a fantastic night for all the guys out there, the crowd was loud and the game was really tight,” said Coach Rees.
“This was really an affirmation of the training we have done, it showed the players that they will be rewarded for their hard work and I think that will really help us the rest of the season,” he added.
“We had a lot of great chances one again and this time we capitalized on two of them and could have had more if not for great saves by the Dartmouth goalie,” said Cunliffe. “We are really developing as a team and we should have a great season.”
The Stags open the MAAC season with a game against Siena at Lessing Field at 7:00.
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