Men’s soccer Head Coach Carl Rees has preached all season long that his squad is working hard and just needs to put it all together on the field at the same time.
On Friday afternoon at Iona, the Stags again could not pull out a victory, dropping their first MAAC game of the season 2-0.
Iona has a 7-2 record and sits in first place in the MAAC with a 1-0 record, the only team in the conference to have won a game so far. The Gaels are 7-2 on the season, the second best record in the league behind Loyola, which is 8-0-1. The Stags meanwhile are 3-4 and 0-1 in the MAAC.
The Stags let up a goal just 55 seconds into the game when the Fairfield defense failed to clear the ball.
Iona’s Giovanni Destasio passed the ball to fellow winger Mario Rios, who sent the ball to Aly Lo, who shot the ball off of Fairfield goalkeeper Justin Burse. As Burse deflected the ball away, Destasio slid back in towards goal and put the ball in the net. It was yet another time that the Stags came close to locking down on defense, but let in a goal at the last moment.
Fairfield struggled to keep the ball out away from its own net during the first half, allowing a total of 12 shots during the 45 minute period and forcing Burse to make six saves during that stretch.
Burse was the one who kept the Stags in the game, as he was able to hold Fairfield within one goal until the 72nd minute of the game. On a throw-in, Taurean Manders tossed the ball to Keith Wood, who passed it on to Daniel Indellicati, who shot the ball past Burse into the upper corner of the net to secure a 2-0 lead.
Fairfield was still unable to score in the final 18 minutes of the game, despite out-shooting the Gaels 9-5. On the game, the Stags were out-shot by just one goal, 18-17. Goalkeeper Nils Binstock recorded five saves’ Gaels to record a shutout, his sixth of the year.
The Stags head into their final non-conference game of the season against Boston College on Wednesday night. The Eagles are 4-4-1 so far this season, but coming off of a 1-0 double overtime loss to Duke.
The Stags then have more than a week off before a crucial MAAC match-up against St. Peter’s on Oct. 17.
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