The women’s soccer team’s season was not meant to end this way. A team two years removed from an NCAA Tournament appearance with the defending MAAC Defensive Player of the Year, this year’s MAAC Rookie of the Year, five First Team players and two Second Team players fell 2-0 to eventual MAAC Tournament Champion Loyola in the first round on Friday.
It was the second meeting for the two teams in a week, as the Stags came back from a 2-0 deficit to earn a tie in their regular season match-up.
Neither the Stags nor the Greyhounds could put one in the net during the first half in the first round of the tournament. However, Loyola’s Colleen Kinealy broke the tie at 61:35 on a pass from Christina Gomez, who later scored Loyola’s second goal.
Fairfield had several chances on corner kicks, but failed to convert each time. The Stags finished the season with an 11-7-3 record.
Despite losing in the first round of the Tournament, the Stags’ talent was evident in the MAAC postseason awards.
Nicole Cavallaro ’11 was named the Rookie of the Year after leading the league in assists with 16 and points with 30. She finished second in the nation with .76 assists per game, behind only Ashley Fortune of Francis Marion, who averaged .93 assists per game. She was also 50th in the nation in points per game, averaging 1.43 per game.
Her award capped numerous others for the Stags.
Seniors MT Church, Alex Caram; juniors Robyn Decker, Ahna Johnson; and Cavallaro were all named to the All-MAAC First Team. Sophomore Casey Frobey and Senior Brett Maron were both named to the All-MAAC Second Team.
Caram and Decker were both named to the All-Tournament Team as well.
The Stags are not only talented on the field. For their work in the classroom, the Stags had nine student-athletes named to the MAAC All-Academic Team.
Whitney Bernabie ’10, Adrienne Boyer ’10, Janna Breitenwischer ’08, Caram, Church, Jen DeBrincat ’09, Frobey, Johnson and Amanda Vargo ’08 were all honored for holding a grade point average of at least 3.2.
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