The Fairfield University women's soccer team concludes its three-game homestand on Sunday afternoon, September 18, when the University of Stony Brook visits Lessing Field for a 2 p.m. game. The Stags are 2-1-2 and enter the contest with a four-game unbeaten streak, while the Seawolves are 1-6 and will play Army on Friday. Any fan that makes a donation of a non-perishable food item to benefit St. Charles Food Pantry in Bridgeport, Conn will receive free admission, while any adult soccer team that wears their jersey will receive a discounted ticket.
Fans not able to make it to the game can follow via livestats, which are free, or by video. The video stream is $7.95 for the individual game, with all-access and women's soccer packages also available.
The meeting is the seventh in program history for the Stags and Seawolves, with Fairfield going 4-1-1 in previous contests. Fairfield has won the last two meetings, including a 3-1 win at home in 2009 and is 3-0 against Stony Brook in home games. The Seawolves victory came in 2004, 3-0, while the team's played to a 2-2 draw in the 2002 meeting.
The contest will also hold a special place in head coach Jim O'Brien's heart, as the Stags will help raise money to benefit Emily Conquest Tredwell. Emily's father, Tim, was an intern in the Southern Connecticut Sports Information office when O'Brien was the head coach of the Owls women's soccer team. Tredwell covered O'Brien's squad and travelled to nearly every road game with O'Brien and the team.
“Jim has been a very good friend for a long time and for him to step up in an effort help me and my family says a lot about who he is,” said Emily's father, Tim. “He's a pretty good coach, but he's a far better person.”
Emily was diagnosed with a rare condition called Proximal Femoral Focal Deficiency. Her right leg was significantly shorter that her left as a result and there were few options. Dr. Dror Paley, of West Palm Beach, Fla., has made limb lengthening his life's work and is helping Emily. The family will make multiple trips to Florida over the next 10 years, with some lasting as long as four months.
The Tredwell family is selling tickets to Sunday's game with the proceeds of those sales going to help offset the medical costs that have been, and continue to be, incurred by Emily's treatments. In addition, fans that attend the game on Sunday will be able to make a donation to Emily at a table located at the entrance to Lessing Field. For those interested in more details on Emily's story visit The Gray Area blog.
“We're all very excited about Sunday's game,” Tim Tredwell said. “Emily loves being around the girls and feeling like she's part of the team. Watching her get to interact with her new "friends" is something both Kate and I enjoy tremendously. While the surgeries and physical therapy Emily will have to go through in the next few years will be difficult, she has a spirit, as well as the support, that makes us confident she can handle it all.”
Fairfield junior Alli Walsh was injured during the spring scrimmage and helped raise money for the Tredwell's throughout that game.
“I think that Emily is an incredible girl and for us to be able to give her something to look forward to is the most heartwarming thing we can do as a team,” said the junior. “She really motivated us when we met her at the scrimmage in the spring, it was just amazing, and everyone was just captivated by her. It was great!”
As for the game, the Stags enter the contest as one of the top-ranked defensive squads in the nation, ranking third in team GAA at 0.18 through games of September 11. Kelly Boudreau and the Stags defense has posted four consecutive shutouts and not allowed a goal in over 460 minutes. Boston College, fourth in the nation at the time of the game, is the only opponent to have found the back of the net against Fairfield this season. Boudreau is fifth in the country with a .964 save percentage and is 8th nationally with her 0.18 GAA. Both of those number rank tops in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.
The Stags have struck for two goals, and have won each of the games in which they scored. Shannon Fay put home a free-kick from Nikki Stanton on Sunday to defeat Holy Cross and joined Lauren Reilly as the only Fairfield players with goals on their resume for the season. Stanton is tied with the duo for the team point lead, as she has assisted on both goals. Fairfield ranks 298th in the nation in scoring average, at 0.4 goals per game entering the week.
