CAMDEN, N.J. -- Krissi Gorsuch and Jessica Keefe earned a silver medal in the pairs as the Fairfield University men's and women's rowing teams competed at the Knecht Cup over the weekend. The Stags placed multiple entries in the event and came home with several strong performances.

Gorsuch and Keefe won their first head with a time of 8:47.10, edging UMass A by six seconds. The duo also won its semifinal race with a time of 8:54.31, four seconds better than the UMass B entry. In the grand final, the two student-athletes were eight seconds behind Duke, as the Stags took second place with a time of 8:32.3.

Head Coach David Patterson's Comments
"The 2010 Knecht Cup was the first opportunity that this pair had to race this boat class and they came in a fifth behind two Duke crews and two UMass crews. This year, they came to the vent much more prepared. Jess and Krissi raced just not to get a medal but the best medal they could achieve, and that dedication and commitment allowed them to seize a silver medal from a fast Kansas crew. This continues Fairfield's run of success at this regatta which has seen one crew medal every year for the last five years. It was the first women's medal since the second varsity four struck gold in the spring of 2007."

The men's varsity pair of Matt McNeill and Ben Andrews looked to rebound from their performance at last week's Sacred Heart Invitational. They did just that with a fourth place finish at the Knecht Cup, a run which began with a second-place finish in their heat. The duo finished the race with a time of 8:09.99, trailing only Carnegie Mellon B which took first with a time of 8:05.2. The two student-athletes captured third in their semifinal race, crossing the line in a time of 8:09.89 which was five second better than the Carnegie Mellon B semifinal time. In the grand final, the Stags posted their best time of the day at 7:47.28, which placed fourth in the race.

Coach Patterson's Comments
"I'm very proud of the way Ben and Matt raised their performance level from last week and indeed each and every step through this regatta. After last weekend, the crew could have gone one way with Matt being a relative novice at the event and with Ben being tired and injured. This regatta showed that they chose the option of working hard and taking on the arduous challenge of building a competitive crew with a passion for success in a short space of time. They stepped up in each race and finished fourth. Some argue fourth place is a bitter place to finish coming so close to a medal. But, I am sure the 18 crews that couldn't race to a fourth place finish would gladly swap positions with Ben and Matt. To make such a rapid improvement in performance should help Ben and Matt aspire to want to keep working and making progress toward the ultimate goal of a Dad Vail medal."

The women's varsity four of Genevieve Bleidner, Bridget Butterworth, Molly Graffam, Kim Beatty, and coxswain Julia Merenda placed fifth out of six entries in heat 1 of their event. The crew ended the race with a time of 8:48.74 which did not qualify for the semifinals.

Coach Patterson's Comments
"I have a lot of faith and a lot of confidence in all these athletes. I'm not sure they got the best performance out of themselves in this race, but I have no doubts that they will become stronger and faster for the experience of racing against this level of competition. Just this week in practice, they put together a four-minute piece at a rating cap of 30 strokes per minute which was, in my mind, the best piece of technical rowing with a superb relaxed rhythm that I can remember from a Fairfield women's four. Racing against super fast crews is all part of the learning experience for them. These rowers bring me joy at practice and hopefully they bring a little of that joy to themselves."

The novice four provided some irony for the Stags as well as for the entire Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC). With 41 crews entered across seven heats, it was ironic that all four MAAC entries ended up in the same heat with only two being able to advance to the semifinals. The Fairfield combination of Margaret McGohey, Lorena Gullotta, Avery Adams, Liz Cavanagh, and coxswain Alison Bishop raced to a second-place finish ahead of Marist, Iona B, Virginia Tech, and Villanova. The Stags were runner up to Loyola, the defending MAAC champion. The irony continued to the semifinal round when Fairfield drew Iona A. The Stags finished ahead of the Gaels but were not able to make it to the grand final, being edged by Villanova A by 0.3 seconds. However, the Stags advanced to the petite final on Sunday where the Stags won the race comfortably over Iona A and Marist.

Coach Patterson's Comments
“This weekend's regatta was an important part of the development of this crew. Having only tasted victory for all their races this season they needed some adversity and needed to show that they are able to come back stronger. The challenge going in to the petite final, having come so very close to the opportunity to race for medals, was to not only go out and dominate the race but post a time to show that they would have made for a stronger grand final. Their petite final time would have had them comfortably fourth in the grand. With the MAAC Championship coming up they will get to have another go at Loyola and I have no doubts that these two crews will also run in to each other at the Dad Vail where the success of one over the other could dictate progression to a final or even a medal.”

The women's second varsity four of Kim Kesting, Meghan Sullivan, Katie Sillo, Sam Matte and coxswain Michelle DeJoseph competed in their heat on Saturday and qualified for the final with the sixth fastest time. The crew came in sixth place in Sunday's final.

Coach Patterson's Comments
“At the start of the week, illness prevented the boat from getting out on the water. Time on the water was further restricted by low tides, class schedule conflicts, and internship constraints not to mention a need to find the best stroke seat. By Thursday, the crew finally took to the water, but they were still only able to get 30 minutes of rowing together. Kim swapped from starboard to port and took the stroke seat responsibilities while Sam came to the crew from the freshman squad. However, Kim made all the changes she needed to make with ease. Sam also fitted in with ease and Meghan started rowing the best since her time in the freshman eight two years ago. As a crew I think they all bought in to my philosophy that if you are not in the first varsity four and you want to be, make the second varsity four look good and given their complete lack of preparation for racing, the fact that they pulled it together to make it work and reach the final was a tremendous achievement which should mean we can all look to another round of successful seat-racing before selections are made for the Dad Vail Regatta.”

Entries for the Knecht Cup were submitted before Spring Break when it seemed like entering two novice men's fours would be the better option before the Sacred Heart Invitational and the success of the eight. However the guys split up into two fours and were challenged to go out and both be successful with the added incentive for the B four to prove that they are just as good as the A four thereby giving more weight to rowing an eight for the rest of the season. The A crew of Brendan Spearing, Phil Falco, Jerry Vissers, Eddie Weiner coxed by Ricky Solano and the B crew of Marco Raffaelli, Eddie Weiner, Jimmy Fusco, Collin Gabato coxed by Paige Manacek both navigated their way through the heats with the A crew having the more difficult route. In the semifinals, the A boat placed third and the B crew took fourth, sending both Stags crews to the petite final. The petite final was won comfortably by Villanova B with Fairfield A placing second (eight overall) and Fairfield B placing third (ninth overall).

Coach Patterson's Comments
“It is clear that there is great consistency through the squad with essentially two fours running at very similar speeds. Given their success in the eight at the Sacred Heart Invitational, we will give them another shot at the big boat to make sure their victory over Iona was no fluke and also to give the crew a real test against the Marist crew that placed fifth in the petite final of the freshman eight at the Knecht Cup and the Loyola eight that wasn't too far behind Marist at the Murphy Cup earlier in the season.”