Peter Caty/ The Mirror
If anything else, one would think that a freshman in a game of this magnitude and on a national stage would sound rather borderline awestruck.
Still, in the depths of Rentschler Field in East Hartford, Conn., and in the shadow of Fairfield’s devastating setback to Denver, a 9-8 loss that potentially ends the team’s stirring postseason run, freshman attackman Sam Snow sounded more like a veteran than a rookie, his words far more indignant than indebted, more compelled than complacent.
“We’ll grow up as a team,” Snow said without hesitation. “We’ll remember this and come out and give it our all in practice. The way we practice is the way we play.” “As far as I’m concerned, the season’s not over,” he added.
“Credit our kids, they didn’t quit,” head coach Andy Copelan said. “We battled back, we persevered. I just thought that the meaningful plays went to Denver.”
At the outset, though, Fairfield seemed poised to steal the show, much of that the fruits of Snow’s sterling play.
Within the first minute of the game, the Brainbridge, Wash. native found sophomore midfielder Brent Adams for his team-high twelfth assist on the season. Snow, the reigning Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference (ECAC) Rookie of the Week, also leads the team in goals and points, giving him the team lead in all three major offensive statistical categories.
The freshman has even showed flashes of clutch in his brief collegiate career. With the first half winding down and the Pioneers on a 3-1 run that narrowed the game to within one goal, Snow tallied a game-high third goal, his 15th on the season, with just under three minutes to play, to secure a Fairfield lead at half.
For a player that garnered first-team All-State honors in both his junior and senior seasons at Brainbridge High School, as well as honors as the Spartans’ most valuable player, one would think that this play should’ve been expected from the get go.
While Copelan anticipated big things from the attackman – “He really has a ton of upside,” Copelan said – that it came so fast was a pleasant surprise.
“Sam, from Washington, it really could’ve been a tough transition,” Copelan said. “But he really comes to work every day. We can really count on him when we need him.”
Despite the loss, the season is far from over. But for the Stags to taste the postseason for the first time in Coplean’s tenure, Fairfield needs to mount borderline insurmountable odds and no shortage of equations, power rankings, and strength of schedules.
Still, in the eyes of Snow, it all comes down to wins and losses, the first opportunity of which comes this weekend against No. 3 Maryland at Byrd Stadium in College Park, Md., the same locale that saw the Terps upended, 10-6, by the top-ranked Virginia Cavaliers for the Atlantic Coastal Conference (ACC) Championship. “Come Saturday, we’ll be hungry,” Snow said.
Flanked by senior defenseman Sean Bannon, the freshman’s words met a nod of approval, a smile, and then a resounding response.
“With the feeling we have right now, I certainly wouldn’t want to play us on Saturday,” Bannon said.
Maybe, just maybe, the kid is right.
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