Record-Breaker

The Stags have been one of the toughest teams in the country to play at home this season and that dominance continued on Friday night. A torrential downpour met the Stags in the first half and the game went into halftime scoreless.

As the rain slowed and the clock wound down, the men’s soccer team found themselves down 1-0 to MAAC rival Canisius at Alumni Field, where the game was moved due to the rain storm, after a Griffs goal put them ahead twelve minutes into the second half.

But Fairfield (8-3-2, 3-1-1 MAAC) rallied to defeat Canisius (4-8, 3-1) with two late goals by senior Sam Bailey and freshman Jean Fauchet.

While it was Fauchet’s first career goal that won the game, on an arching shot from 20 feet out that found its way into the net, it was Bailey’s goal that was more historic. Bailey scored his 23rd career goal and recorded his 61st career point, moving him into sole possession of the record in both categories in the 72nd minute to tie the score at 1-1.

“It feels great,” said Bailey of breaking the records. “I could have scored on earlier on a couple of chances in the first half, but it finally came in the second half. Once again it doesn’t matter if the team wins who scores, but I am ecstatic to break that record tonight.”

Head Coach Carl Rees was also very excited about Bailey’s record-breaking performance.

“I am just delighted for Sam, to rack up that amount of points, honestly a lot of it is natural instinct,” said Rees. “When we recruited him he was a prolific goal scorer in the UK. He is exactly what we are looking for in a student athlete, he takes chances, it so hard to come by these guys who take chances.”

The Stags allowed their first goal in almost a year at home, the last one coming on Oct. 20, 2006, 871 minutes of game play ago, by Loyola.

Fairfield controlled the ball for most of the game and outplayed Canisius, but could not put the ball into the net until Bailey’s goal. The Stags used the momentum from that goal to score a second, when Fauchet converted with only 3:43 left in the game.

Christian Uy ’10 assisted on both of Fairfield’s goals to give him three assists and nine points on the season. Bailey’s goal gives him seven on the season and 17 points overall, which is tied for fourth best in the MAAC.

“I thought it was one of our best performances of our season so far,” said Rees. “From the backs to the middle third and from the middle third to the final third we were good…I thought we kept the tempo high and persevered. The guys deserved to win.”

The Stags return to action on Sunday with a game at Lessing Field against Niagara, looking to continue their nine game home undefeated streak.