Tournament Notes
The Fairfield University women's soccer team is the fourth-seed at this weekend's Chick-fil-A Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Women's Soccer Championship in Baltimore, Md.
The event, being played at Loyola University Maryland's Ridley Athletic Complex, kicks-off on Friday and concludes on Sunday afternoon.
The Stags, 6-6-6, on the year are unbeaten in their last six games (3-0-3) and will take on regular season champion Marist College at 4 p.m. on Friday in the first semifinal. The second semifinal will feature second-seeded Niagara University and the third-seeded Greyhounds. The semifinal winners will meet on Sunday at 1 p.m. with the champion earning the league's automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament.
All three games will be streamed live on MAAC.tv for $5.95 per game. Livestats are also available and links for each contest, along with all championship information, can be found at MAAC Tournament Central. The weekend's webcast begins at 7:45 p.m. Thursday as the awards portion of the tournament banquet will stream live on MAAC.tv.
Fairfield is unbeaten in its last six games, with five shutouts in that span, as it finished the MAAC slate at 4-3-2. The Stags have outscored its foes 8-1 during that stretch for an impressive 0.15 goals-against average.
The Stags are 0-1-2 against the field of this weekend's championship this season, falling 1-0 to Marist and tying both Niagara and Loyola 0-0. All-time the Stags are 12-10-5 in MAAC Championship play and have captured seven tournament crowns, second only to the nine of Loyola. Under seventh year head coach Jim O'Brien the Stags are 4-3-1 in tournament play, winning the tournament crown in 2005 and 2008.
Senior Kelly Boudreau earned her sixth MAAC Defensive Player of the Week award on Monday, after making 14 saves in helping the Stags blank Canisius and Niagara and earn a tournament berth. With the effort on Sunday she surpassed Anne Lyons as the programs all-time saves leader, and enters postseason play with 393 career saves. Boudreau is leading the conference with a .870 save percentage, 17th in the nation, and a .622 GAA, which is 21st in the nation.
Sophomore Nikki Stanton has jumped to the top of the Stags scoring list by virtue of a team-best six assists. She is tied for sixth in the league, with half coming against league opponents. Stanton had two assists in the Stags three goal effort against Saint Peter's and tallied her only goal of the year, on a PK, in the four goal effort against Rider. She enters postseason play ranked 140th in the country in assists per game.
Fairfield and Marist will be meeting for the 18th time since the series began in 1993 with a 3-0 Stags victory. The Stags and Red Foxes have met just once in postseason play, a 3-0 Stag win in the 2000 MAAC Championship. Fairfield is 10-3-4 all-time against the Red Foxes, with their last victory in 2009, a 1-0 overtime win. Marist has never won consecutive meetings against Fairfield, with back-to-back ties coming on two different occasions, the last time in 2008 and 2009. The two teams, who played a regulation game this season, had played four straight overtime contests before that, and have needed extra time in six of the last eight meetings. Fairfield won the first six games and eight of nine to start the series.
