In their first MAAC play game of the season, men’s soccer was not able to pick up a win or a loss. The team walked away with a tie of 1-1 against Monmouth University on Saturday night in double overtime.
Fairfield, overall 3-2-2, was looking to help their coach, Carl Rees, pick up his 100th win as a MAAC coach. However, Monmouth, 1-5-3, only helped Rees add another tie to his overall record as a coach.
Played evenly but competitively in the first half, both teams struggled to find the net. Fairfield and Monmouth ended the half only taking one shot on goal each, with Fairfield’s lone shot coming from Martin Lindgren ‘17 in the 21st minute.
In the second half, the game was turned around by both teams. As the teams upped the intensity, Monmouth began to take more shots on goal and outshot Fairfield by two. However, Fairfield was the first team to put a score on the board in the fifty-seventh minute. In a penalty kick, Jon Clements ‘14 scored the only goal for the Stags that evening. The goal was just enough to put the team ahead.
As the game proceeded on, the Stags defense, led by George Newton ‘16, played impeccably to keep the team ahead. And it had almost seemed that Fairfield would pick up a win for Coach Rees, but Monmouth continued to put the pressure on. In the seventy first minute, with only about twenty minutes left, Monmouth’s Dave Nigro scored off of a shot from a corner kick.
In the next twenty minutes, the score remained tied and the fouls from both sides continued. Although both teams played aggressively taking a total of six shots in the last twenty minutes, the Stags couldn’t get ahead to get the win.
Forcing the game to go into overtime, Lindgren took the first shot two minutes in but the shot was rejected by Monmouth. That shot would be the only that the Stags would take in the overtime period, but it was one more than Monmouth. As the overtime dwindled down, the score remained tied. Exhausted, Fairfield and Monmouth headed into the second double over time.
In the second double overtime, neither team was awarded the opportunity to make a shot on goal. And after 110 minutes, both Fairfield and Monmouth walked off of the field without a win.
Fairfield was looking to get a win in their first MAAC division game, but overall, the tie gave them a point in MAAC play. This week the Stags will travel to Manhattan to take on Manhattan College.
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