The Fairfield University men's lacrosse team concludes a five-game homestand this afternoon by hosting Colgate University. The Stags, winners of back-to-back games are 4-2 on the year, while the Raiders are 4-3 after having a four-game win streak snapped on Tuesday. Fans can follow along live via the Stags
web stream, or via
Livestats.
Fairfield and Colgate are meeting for the sixth time, with the Stags holding a 3-2 advantage in the series. The two squads met last season in Hamilton and the Stags came away with a 10-8 victory. The last time the teams met at Fairfield was during the 2009 season a game that Colgate won 13-12. The two teams first met in the 1997 ECAC Tournament where the Stags, the two-seed, fell 23-10. Fairfield earned a measure of revenge a year later with a 9-7 win in the ECAC Championship game. Fairfield earned its other win in the series in a 2004 meeting, 9-8, in Vero Beach, Fla.
Colgate had a four-game winning streak snapped on Tuesday by Binghamton and enters today's game at 4-3 overall and 2-2 in road games. The Raiders are averaging 9.1 goals per game, while allowing 7.4 The offense is led by Peter Baum who has touched net 19 times and has 23 total points, and Andrew Mould, who has scored 10 goals and 11 points. Jared Madison has started all seven games in net for Colgate and enters today's game with a .549 save percentage (62 saves) and a 7.43 GAA (51 GA).
Doug Kuring has touched net a team-leading nine times this season, a number which ranks him ninth in the ECAC entering the weekend. He has touched net twice in each of the last three games and four times this season. Kuring scored the decisive goal in the Stags wins over Lafayette and Air Force and is one of two ECAC players to have a pair of game-winners on his resume this season. Kuring has also scored a league-best four man-up goals this season. He enters today's game second on the Stags roster with 10 points.
Max Trunz has dished out seven assists over the last three games to bring his team-leading total to 10, good for third in the conference. With his one goal, scored at Bryant, he is currently atop the Stags roster with 11 points. Trunz handed out a team-best 14 assists last season and now has 31 for his career. He handed out three assists in the Stags ECAC win over Air Force and has had two or more assists in four of the last five games the team has played.
Charlie Cipriano continues to impress in the cage for the Stags. He has held five of six opponents to six or less goals and has posted double-digit saves in four games this season and has made at least eight saves in every game. Cipriano is leading the ECAC with a .638 save percentage and his 5.68 GAA, both of which have him among the nation's leader. He has played all bout 66 seconds for the Stags this season, and has nine ground balls and two caused turnovers.
Fairfield's man-down defense was a perfect 6-6 over the weekend in killing penalties and has now held five opponents scoreless in extra-man situations. Villanova is the only team to score man-up against the Stags, going 2-7. Fairfield is top-five in the nation in man-down defense, stopping foes 87.5 percent (17-19) of the time. The Stags finished sixth in the nation in 2010 in man-down defense, allowing foes to score just 25 percent (13-52) of the time.
