Game Notes
With a berth in the 2012 ECAC Lacrosse League championship secured, the #17 Fairfield University men's lacrosse team opens a two-game regular season ending homestand when #10 University of Denver visits Lessing Field Saturday at 1 p.m. The Stags are 10-2 on the season and 3-1 in league play, while the Pioneers are 7-4 overall and 3-2 in ECAC action. Fans can watch video of the game at FairfieldStags.tv for $7.95 or can follow livestats free of charge.
The NCAA released an RPI report on Monday and the Stags ranked 13th, which is second in the ECAC only to Loyola, which is ranked first. Fairfield has been ranked in the national polls in each week of the season, reaching as high as 13th, following a 7-0 start to the season.
Fairfield is taking on Denver for the ninth time in lacrosse and looking for its first victory as ECAC foes. The Stags have three wins in the series, all of which came while the two squads were members of the Great West Lacrosse League. Denver has won the three ECAC meetings between the two teams over the last two seasons, and five games in the series history. The two teams first met in 2001, at Fairfield, a game the Stags won 13-11. The Stags won in Denver the following season on the way to a GWLL Championship and the Pioneers earned their first win in 2003, 16-9, at Fairfield. The Stags are 2-1 against Denver in games on campus and 2-2 in home games, with the 2010 contest being played at Rentschler Field.
The Stags are 4-1 at home this season and will play their final two regular season games on campus, hosting Ohio State next Saturday. Denver meanwhile is 2-3 in games played outside the State of Colorado. Under fourth-year head coach Andy Copelan the Stags are 16-8 at home, with a 3-3 record on Lessing Field.
Fairfield maintained its ranking of fourth in the nation with a .603 face-off win percentage as a team. The Stags have won 170 times at the X this season, 14.2 per game, which is nearly double the 7.25 face-off wins per game from last season. The Stags won just 38 percent at the X last spring, a number which ranked 57th in the nation.
Sam Snow equaled a season-high with five points in the Stags win at Air Force to take over the team lead in points at 33. He netted his fourth hat trick of the season, including the game-winning tally, while also handing out two assists. Snow has now tallied 20 points in six games since being blanked by Vermont. He has scored five points three times this year, including a five-goal effort in the opener, and has 10 multi-point games this spring.
Tristan Sperry made his first collegiate start on Saturday and then earned his first collegiate honor Monday. After scoring a career-best four goals in the win over Air Force, Sperry was named the ECAC Rookie of the Week. His effort nearly doubled his collegiate goal total, now with nine, and moved him to seventh on the roster with 14 points. Sperry also picked up a career-best four ground balls in the victory.
Fairfield had its seventh double-digit goal scoring effort of the year on Saturday, which has helped the Stags to a 10.8 goals per game average. That number ranks the Stags 21st in the nation, up from 48th place last year when they averaged 8.0 goals per game. For the first time since the 2006 season Fairfield has three players reach 30 or more points. Snow has 33 points, Brent Adams 31, and John Snellman 30, entering today's game.
Charlie Cipriano had his ninth double-digit save total of the year, and third straight, against Air Force, as he stopped 16 shots. The effort equaled his season-best, matching the total he first recorded on February 28 in a triple-overtime win at Hofstra. The effort Saturday moved him to 10th in the nation at 11.17 saves per game, while his 134 saves is most among ECAC keepers. Cipriano enters play Saturday with an 8.66 GAA, 17th nationally and the 14th best save percentage in the country, stopping nearly 56 percent of the shots he has faced this season.
