With its postseason destiny squarely in its own hands the Fairfield University men's lacrosse team heads to Columbus, Ohio for the 'Showdown in the Shoe' Saturday morning. The Stags, 6-6 overall and 2-2 in ECAC Lacrosse League play, will take on Ohio State University, 7-6 overall and 2-2 in the league, at 11 a.m. in a game televised live on the Big Ten Network. (BTN Channel Finder)

The ''Showdown in the Shoe' is played at Ohio Stadium, the Buckeyes 102,329 seat on-campus facility.  The fourth-largest on-campus stadium in the nation Ohio Stadium has a natural grass surface and has played host to the likes of Pink Floyd and The Rolling Stones, and now the Fairfield Stags.  The 'Showdown in the Shoe' precedes the Buckeyes annual spring football game and has set a regular season on-campus lacrosse attendance record in each of the past three years with well over 30,000 fans attending each season.

The winner of Saturday's game will secure a spot for itself in the inaugural ECAC Lacrosse League championship, which will be played in Denver, Colo., May 5-7. Fans can visit the Ohio State athletic website for information regarding tickets to the event and for livestats.

Fairfield is 3-5 all-time versus Ohio State, but is 3-3 against the Buckeyes when meeting as conference opponents. The Stags lone win in Columbus came in 2005, 14-10, the last time Fairfield made a postseason appearance. Fairfield earned a win in the team's last meeting, 10-8, at Fairfield in 2010, the first season Ohio State was a member of the ECAC.

The Stags have played five games that have been decided by just one goal, including the last three games, and are 1-4 in those contests. In addition, in each of its last two games the Stags have scored with two or less seconds remaining in the game, including John Snellman's first career game-winning goal with 1.5 seconds left at Hartford. Matt Plominski netted a goal with two seconds to play in the Stags tightly fought contest with #8 Hofstra on Lessing Field Saturday afternoon.

Fairfield began the week ranked in the top-10 in the nation in three different team categories. The Stags are allowing just 7.42 goals per game, which is the ninth-best number in the country. The team's man-down defense has been nearly perfect this season, killing off 83 percent of opponents man-up chances successfully, which ranks fourth in the country. On the flip-side, Fairfield has scored in 50 percent of its own man-up situations this year, good for third in the nation.

A loss on Saturday does not eliminate Fairfield from postseason qualification. The Stags close out the regular season at Denver and a win in that game would earn Fairfield an ECAC Tournament berth. Likewise, an Air Force loss to Hobart in the Falcons home finale, next weekend, would earn Fairfield a berth, regardless of the Stags results in either of its remaining games.