On Wednesday, Oct. 5, the Fairfield University women’s soccer team hosted Manhattan College at Lessing Field and emerged victorious by potting a season-high four goals in comparison to Manhattan’s one according to the box score.
It was a cold and rainy night in Fairfield; on the conditions, head coach David Barrett said in the game’s official recap that there “were tough conditions and a little wet tonight and it caught us off-guard a little bit in the beginning. Manhattan came out strong and put us on our heels, but we made a couple of changes and the team responded effectively.”
Fairfield’s four goals came against Manhattan goalie Kim Mains, who was averaging just .57 goals against per game before this one. Fairfield’s first goal came in the 24th minute from graduate student Maddie Mills who hit the top corner for her fourth goal of the year. This was the ninth time this season the Stags have struck first in their games, taking a 1-0 lead.
Manhattan would quickly answer just minutes later with a goal of their own to tie the game up at 1-1 in the 32nd minute. Then, just five minutes later, Maddy Theriault ‘26 took a turnover down the field and took the lead for the Stags with her fifth goal of the year. Her five goals leads the Stags and places her second in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference for goals scored.
The rest of the first half remained scoreless and the score remained 2-1 at half. Coming out of the half, the Stags kept their foot on the pedal, extending their lead with a goal from Meghan Carragher ‘26 for her first career collegiate goal. Elle Scott ‘24 and Thierault got the assists, tying them for the team lead with thirteen points each.
The Stags fourth and final goal of the match was a header from Caroline Kelly ‘24 off of a pass from Mills in the 70th minute to put the game on ice.
The Stags dominated in every facet of the game, allowing just three shots on net and outshooting Manhattan 21-7.
Barrett then went on to say on the team’s play that they “scored some good goals tonight, which we are capable of doing. It was a good home win, Manhattan is always well coached and well-organized so we were pleased we created some dangerous situations for ourselves and we were able to get some goals in.”
The Stags then traveled to Lawrence, N.J., to play and shutout Rider University in a 1-0 match. They outshot the Broncs 27-2, not allowing them to get a single shot on goal. The win put the Stags at 10-2 on the year and 5-1 in conference play.
The Stags first and only goal came from Reagan Klarmann ‘25 in the 29th minute of the match. The goal came from a cross from Scott and a great effort from Klarmann to strike the ball and put it past Rider’s goalkeeper Ellie Sciancalepore who had 13 saves on the day. This was her first goal of the season and the third of her career. This assist was Scott’s sixth of the last three games continuing her hot streak of dishing passes to her teammates.
The Stags lead the MAAC with 16.67 shots per game and a very high 91 shots on goal this season. In addition, their offense continued to be on fire with 27 shots, the second most by Fairfield this season and the fifth time in their last six games they have taken 20 or more shots.
In addition to their offense being on fire recently, their two shots allowed are tied for the fewest they have allowed under head coach David Barrett in his five years in the position. This was the first time since exactly eight years prior on Oct. 8, 2014, when the Stags allowed zero shots on goal.
Barrett stated in the game’s official recap that “We expected it to be a tough road game and it was,” and went on to say, “Rider is very organized. We created a lot of chances, we just couldn’t get that second goal which would have opened up a little more for us. It’s an important win, we knew Rider was going to be a tough one to get. We did a lot of good things, we’re just going to clean up on our finishing a little bit and we’ll be okay.”
The Stags will look to continue their hot streak on Wednesday, Oct. 12 in Jersey City, N.J., against the Saint Peter’s University Peacocks at 3 p.m.
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