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The Fairfield University women's basketball team plays its 1,000 varsity game this evening when it hosts Cornell University at Alumni Hall.  The Stags are 2-0 on the young season, while the Big Red are looking for their first win, at 0-2.

Fairfield and Cornell are meeting for the third time and for the first time on the Stags home floor.  Both squads have earned a win in the series, with the Big Red winning the last meeting, 58-54 on December 1, 2008.  Fairfield's victory in the series came on December 7, 1996, 73-57, at a neutral site.

Fairfield began playing varsity women's basketball for the 1974-75 season at the Division III level.  That squad, under coach Gary Dittrich, posted a perfect season, going 16-0.  Fairfield elevated the program to the Division II level for the 1979-80 campaign and hired the program's longest tenured coach Dianne Nolan.  After two Division II seasons, Fairfield made the move to Division I for the 1981-82 season and joined the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.  All told, the Stags have played 999 varsity games, winning 565 of those contests.  Fairfield has won three MAAC Regular Season Championships, three MAAC Tournament Championships and played in a national postseason tournament on six occasions.  Three of those appearances - one NCAA, a WNIT and WBI - have been of the at-large variety.

Cornell is 0-2 on the year, having fallen at home to Cleveland State (65-50) in the opener and on the road to Syracuse (86-45) on Monday night.  The Big Red are shooting 33 percent from the floor, 31.4 from behind the arc, and are being outrebounded by 14.5 boards per game.  Cornell has 29 assists on 33 made field goals, but has a 0.5 assist-to-turnover ratio and are -7.0 in turnover margin. Clare Fitzpatrick and Shelby Lyman enter Friday's game with 16 points apiece, to lead Cornell.  Allie Munson has eight points this season and is averaging a team-best 5.5 rebounds.  Taylor Flynn leads the team with seven assists, while Lyman has six.  All told, nine of 12 players that have seen action this season have at least one assist.

The Stags best start to a season was a 7-0 start in the 1983-84 season, the only other time that the team has opened a campaign with four consecutive home wins.  The Stags had wins over Boston College, Connecticut, seton Hall and Wisconsin during that stretch.  Fairfield began the 2007-08 season, Joe Frager's first at the helm, with five consecutive victories.

The Stags have held their first two opponents to 30.6 percent shooting from the field and 42.5 points per game - both leading the league through games of Tuesday night. The Stags have not allowed an opposing player to reach double-digits in either of the games.  More impressive is the Stags holding opponents to just 2-15 from behind the arc, which includes an 0-7 effort by George Mason.  The Stags have forced 28 turnovers in the two games, with 12 steals.

Fairfield has converted 48 field goals this season, and have recorded an assist on 62.5 percent (30) of those field goals.  Leading the way is Desiree Pina who has handed out 10 assists.  Eight players have contributed at least one assist, with Taryn Johnson second on the team with six assists.