The field hockey team ended last season not knowing that they would be in a different conference at the beginning of this school year.
Fairfield played its first game in the Northeast Conference last Sunday against Quinnipiac University, falling to the Bobcats, 4-1.
Eight minutes into the game, Quinnipiac scored off a rebound to take an early 1-0 lead. The Bobcats would score two more goals before the end of the first half and that was all they needed to defeat Fairfield.
The Stags had one bright spot as Allison Mays ’07 scored on a penalty corner from Rebecca Odenwaelder ’06. The goal was Mays’ third of the year. Mays also led the team with four shots in the game. Quinnipiac edged Fairfield 20-11 in the shots category.
Elizabeth Thomas ’08 had six saves for the Stags in the losing effort.
Fairfield lost one other game last weekend, when they fell 3-1 to Hofstra, the eighteenth ranked team in the nation.
Both teams struggled early in the first half, but Hofstra scored first at 27:58. The Pride would score another goal just minutes later to take a 2-0 lead.
The Pride never turned back and added an insurance goal 54 seconds into the second half.
Kelly Rath ’06 would score the only goal of the game for Fairfield at 51:13 on a pass from Odenwaelder. Thomas had another strong effort saving seven shots.
“The Hofstra coach was very surprised by the way our team played,” said Coach Jackie Leonard.
Though the Stags had an opening day 3-2 win against UMass, they dropped to 1-7 overall and 0-1 in the NEC after the weekend.
Fairfield played in the Patriot League for the past eight years. The NEC, known as a very competitive conference, also added Lock Haven to the conference.
“I am excited to be in this conference, it is a vehicle to get into the NCAA tournament,” said Coach Jackie Leonard.
The pre-season coaches’ poll ranked Fairfield fourth in the NEC. Quinnipiac was predicted as the pre-season favorite in the conference.
The team has four Top 20 teams on its schedule this year. They played Northwestern and Hofstra earlier in the year, and look ahead to Boston College and UConn. The majority of the games will be conference games.
“This year will be tough because we play all of our away conference games on grass, which we aren’t used to,” Leonard said.
At home, the Stags play at University Field, which is turf. Every team in Fairfield’s conference plays on a grass field. While playing on turf may be a home field advantage for Fairfield, it may hurt them on the road.
Although the Stags have a disappointing record, Leonard knows that the team will only improve.
“We have a great group of returnees and have a solid group of freshman that have played well so far,” said Leonard.
This year’s new goalie, Elizabeth Thomas ’08 succeeds Lauren Thomas ’04 who was one of the top goaltenders in Fairfield history. She ranked sixth last year with a .821 save percentage and was fifth in the nation with 179 saves.
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