Fairfield MAAC Tournament Notes

MAAC Tournament Central

FAIRFIELD, Conn. -- With the top-seed in hand, the Fairfield University men's soccer team begins its quest for a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference title this weekend. The Stags, who are the 2011 MAAC regular-season champions, will play the winner of the Rider-Canisius game on Friday at 1:45 pm.

Should the Stags advance, the rest of the tournament would shape up with an 11 am semifinal match  on Sunday, November 6 followed the potential of a noon championship game on November 7. All three of Fairfield's tournament games would be available on ESPN3, ESPN's live multi-screen sports network, a 24/7 destination that delivers thousands of global sports events annually and accessible online via WatchESPN.com.  It is currently available to approximately 70 million homes at no additional cost to fans who receive their high-speed Internet connection or video subscription from an affiliated service provider.  The network is also available at no cost to approximately 21 million U.S. college students and U.S.-based military personnel via computers connected to on-campus educational networks and on-base military networks.

Head Coach Carl Rees led his team to the MAAC regular-season title after posting an unbeaten conference slate at 8-0-1, the program's first MAAC unbeaten record since the 2005 campaign. Plus, Fairfield also looks to build upon its current 10-game overall unbeaten streak that started with a 1-0 win against Yale on September 23. Since that day, the team owns a 9-0-1 record.

Freshman Jordan Ayris has been the team's top scorer from the beginning, taking the team lead with a goal against Boston College in the season opener and never relinquishing the top spot. The freshman has tallied eight goals and three assists for 19 points, which breaks down to better than a point per game. He places second in the MAAC statistics with 1.36 points per game.

Sophomore Jon Clements has been the team's most productive scorer as of late, netting 10 points in the last four games. He started the run with the game-winning assist against Marist, followed by the game-winning goal against Iona College in a 1-0 overtime victory. Last weekend, the forward tallied a goal and an assist against Manhattan before finishing up the regular season with two goals against Saint Peter's. He places second on the team with 15 points, comprised of six goals and three assists.

Graduate student Jack Burridge is the team's third double-digit scorer with 10 points, registering three goals and dishing off a team-high four assists this season. On two occasions, he scored in the final minute of regulation to keep the Stags unbeaten streak alive. He netted the game-tying goal at Rider, a game which the Stags went on to win by a 3-2 margin. And, he followed up with a goal in the closing seconds to tie Niagara 3-3, which ended in a draw. Burridge is already one of the program's most prolific scorers, placing eighth in total points (40) and sixth in goals scored (16).

Junior Michael O'Keeffe, a two-time All-MAAC goalkeeper, has not allowed a goal in the last 313 minutes of play which has lowered his goals against average to 1.17 overall. He has four shutouts to his credit. He averages just over three saves per game with 48 stops in 14 starts.