The Fairfield University women's soccer team plays its final regular season game of the season on Saturday, travelling to Lawrenceville, N.J. for a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) meeting with Rider University. The Stags, winners of five straight, are 11-5-1 on the year and have clinched the second-seed in next week's MAAC Championship with a 7-1-1 league record. The Broncs are currently 7-7-1 and at 4-4-1 in league play can finish anywhere from fifth to seventh place in the MAAC standings.
Video for Saturday's game, set for 1 p.m., will be available at MAAC.tv, and Rider will be providing LiveStats free of charge.
Fairfield and Rider are meeting for the 19th time, with the Stags holding a 15-3-0 record in the series. The Stags have won eight straight meetings, with the last four all but shutout and by a score of 10-0. Fairfield won the first five meetings, with the Broncs breaking through in the 2001 tournament 1-0, for their first win. The Stags won the 2002 regular season meeting, before again falling in the postseason, 2-1 in double overtime. Fairfield won again in 2003, 3-2, and Rider's last win came in 2004, 2-0, in Lawrenceville, N.J.
Rookie Brenna Brown (North Salem, N.Y.) scored four the fourth time in as many games, tallying the game-winning goal for the Stags on Wednesday. Her third game-winner of the year, it is the second in as many games, as she tallied the team's first goal in the win over Niagara. Brown is now second on the team with 11 points, netting five goals on the year.
Ashley Small (Melville, N.Y.) added two more goals to hear team leading total and enters the final weekend of the regular season tied for the conference lead with a dozen tallies. That number is tied for fourth on the Stags single-season list, which is topped by the 22 scored by Abby Allan in 1997. Small's 12 tallies are the most since Ahna Johnson scored 15 times in leading Fairfield to a MAAC crown and NCAA Tournament berth. Johnson's final three goals of that campaign came in the MAAC Final with her first career hat trick.
The Stags have posted three consecutive clean sheets and have not allowed a goal in 344 minutes entering play on Saturday. All told, Fairfield is outscoring MAAC opponents 23-4 with six shutouts. Since being outscored 5-1 in a season-opening three game losing streak, the Stags have gone 11-2-1 with a 30-9 scoring advantage. Kathleen Early (Rockville Centre, N.Y.) has seven of the Stags eight shutouts this season and her 0.68 GAA is part of the team's 0.81 GAA. Fairfield allows just 9.3 shots per game to its opponents this season, with only 65 (3.8/game) of those being on goal.
The Broncs are 3-1-1 over their last five outings, coming off of a 1-1 double-overtime tie with Niagara at home on Wednesday night. Rider is being outscored 24-19 for the year and has 20 assists on those goals. Jennifer Meier is the offensive leader for the squad, with nine goals, four assists and 22 points. Hollie Kelsh has also handed out four assists on the season. Vanessa Perdomo (692 minutes) and Bethany-May Howard (695 minutes) have split the goalkeeping duties, combining for three shutouts. Perdomo has made 40 saves and has a 0.78 GAA, while Howards has stopped 31 shots and has a 2.33 GAA.
