All for nothing.
That was the way Fairfield forward Bill Androutsos ’06 described his immediate feelings about the Stags’ season following the team’s 2-1 season-ending loss to Marist in Sunday’s MAAC tournament championship game.
“A result like this makes you feel like the year was worthless, but it was a good year,” Androutsos said. “It was very disappointing but the collective mentality of the team stayed strong. We were just a little unlucky today.”
The loss was an unfitting ending to what had been the best Stags season in a decade. The team had an undefeated regular season in the MAAC and entered last weekend’s conference tournament as the No. 1 seed. If that was not enough, the Stags had the advantage of playing the tournament on their home field.
But after the Stags dismantled Niagara 3-0 Friday in the semi-finals, underdog Marist stunned the capacity crowd on hand at Lessing Field Sunday, scoring the game’s first two goals en route to its second consecutive MAAC championship.
Last year, the Red Foxes nearly stunned heavily favored UConn in the first round of the NCAA tournament, taking the game to overtime before the Huskies pulled out a 1-0 win.
The Stags still held on to hope that they would be granted an at-large bid to the NCAA’s – something that appeared to be a very realistic possibility given the team’s standing as the No. 24 team in the nation. But when the tournament bracket was unveiled on Monday afternoon, the Stags were not included and the season of a lifetime officially ended without a trip to the post-season.
“Obviously, we were disappointed, but we knew the chances weren’t very good because of our conference,” said junior defender Mike Troy.
Ironically, Troy pointed out, the Stags (13-4-3) were left out of the field, while Providence, a Big East team with just six wins, was included despite the fact that Marist represented the MAAC extremely well last year, taking UConn, the Big East’s best team, to overtime.
Adding to the Stags’ feeling of being snubbed was the fact that N.C. State, whom the Stags beat this season on the road, not only made the tournament, but was given a first round bye. Moreover, Yale, whom the Stags outplayed during a 1-1 tie that same week, was also admitted.
The Stags, though, could have done things the easy way by beating Marist on the field. But with their own red-clad cheering section voicing their support as early as the pre-game introductions, the Red Foxes capitalized on two golden opportunities and went up 2-0.
When Sam Bailey ’08 put the Stags on the board in the 86th minute, Fairfield got back into the game, anticipating a dramatic game-tying goal.
But that goal never came and as the buzzer sounded, nearly every Fairfield player on the field dropped to the ground in disbelief. The loss halted an eight-game winning streak and a 12-game unbeaten streak.
“We hit the post twice,” said Stags Head Coach Carl Rees. “We came close twice. Their goalkeeper came up, and it was just one of those games when the soccer gods weren’t smiling on us today. We just fell on the wrong side of the fence this time, but that’s the first time since Sept. 23 that that’s happened, and that’s an amazing feat for this group of guys.”
Rees emphasized the Stags’ accomplishments and said that his team has nothing to hang their heads about, despite coming up short of their ultimate goal of winning the conference.
“That winning streak will go down in history at Fairfield, and that’s something these guys will remember for the rest of their lives,” he said.
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