A thrilling victory over UMass, a win that ended the Stags’ demoralizing eight-game losing streak, was supposed to propel the men’s lacrosse team to a confident and convincing end to a chaotic season.
St. John’s, though, had other plans. In the team’s final game of the season, the Stags failed to finish a stirring second half rally on the road, as the Red Storm escaped with a narrow victory, 10-8.
The loss was the Stags’ ninth in ten games, which moved the team’s overall record to 4-9 on the season.
St. John’s, a team that entered the game with only one victory on the season, began the game strong from the outset. The Red Storm tallied seven consecutive goals following a 1-1 tie early in the first quarter, and took a demoralizing 8-1 lead into halftime.
The true story of the game, though, was Fairfield’s strong response to the deficit in the second half.
While St. John’s did add two more goals at the start of the half, Fairfield responded with five unanswered tallies to pull to within three goals.
Ironically, the stretch began with an offensive contribution from two defensive captains, as senior Matt Scanlon ’08 found fellow defenseman Chris Atwell ’08 for the first and only goal of his collegiate career.
Within that rally, the Stags demonstrated the balance of talented freshmen and veteran poise that, despite inconsistent results, have shown flashes of brilliance at times this season.
Attackman Travis Nelson ’08 and midfielder Chris Ajemian ’09 both finished with three goals on the day. Nelson finished the season as team leaders in points and assists, while Ajemian ended the year with a team-high 15 goals.
As for the youth of the team, Ryan Mulford ’11 scored two goals, ending the season with four goals in the Stags’ final three games.
Despite the glimpses of offensive promise and a near comeback, the game appropriately ended much like the team’s season, with a lesson learned and an eye to the future.
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