FAIRFIELD, Conn. -- With the non-conference schedule safely tucked away, the Fairfield University men's soccer team will begin its journey through the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) on Friday night. The Stags will take on Canisius College in their MAAC opener, the first of two games in upstate New York this weekend. The weekend swing ends with an afternoon game at Niagara University on Sunday.

Fairfield is playing its third straight road game on Friday night, a road trip which started with a one-goal loss against unbeaten New Hampshire and a tie with Rhode Island. The Stags opened the 2010 campaign with seven straight home games.

Erik Ilisije and David Piedrahita lead the team in scoring with two goals each, accounting for four of the team's six goals this season. Ilisjie has a game-winning goal to his credit, an overtime score against Yale in a 2-1 victory. 

Goalkeeper Michael O'Keeffe remains one of the conference's top goalkeepers with a .824 save percentage and a 0.92 goals against average. The sophomore registered a pair of shutouts this season, and put together a scoreless streak of more than 330 minutes.

Canisius will play just its third home game of the season on Friday night, after playing six of its first eight games on the road. The Griffs are looking for their first win of the season, bringing an 0-7-1 mark into Friday night's game. Andrew Incho, J.J Hughes, and Justin Montero lead the Griffs offensive attack with one goal each.

Niagara looks to improve on its 2-6-1 overall record, posting a 2-1-1 mark on its own campus. The Purple Eagles are winless in five road games. Carl Haworth leads the team in scoring with six goals and four assists for 16 points. Liam Gilbert is next in line with 11 points, tallying four goals and three assists.