The Fairfield University women's soccer team, winners of three straight, plays its final two non-conference games of the season this weekend against in-state rivals. The Stags travel to Central Connecticut State University on Friday at 7 p.m. before host Yale University Sunday at 2 p.m. on Lessing Field.
Fans can watch the Stags on line at CCSU on Friday night or follow via livestats, and can follow livestats for the home game versus Yale on Sunday. Tickets for Sunday's game are available at Lessing Field. Any Monroe AYSO players in uniform will be admitted free and can remain after the game to meet the team and get player and coach autographs.
The Stags have won three straight games, all by one goal, to even their season record at 3-3-0. Fairfield, behind tournament MVP Nikki Stanton, won its own invitational last weekend, defeating American (1-0) and Holy Cross (1-0 OT). Stanton had the game-tying goal against Holy Cross, whie assisting on the game-winner. Ashley Small has been on a tear and has scored the game-winning goal in each of the Stags three victories. She leads the team with four total goals on the year and has a team-best eight points and was named to the All-Tournament Team as well.
Fairfield has allowed just two goals during its win streak, with Kathleen Early earning the wins against Hartford and American. Sophia DeVita made her first collegiate start against Holy Cross and picked up the win in that game. Emma Pichl, named to All-Tournament Team last weekend as well, has been a key in the back line during the win streak.
The Stags our outshooting its foes 90-68 for the year and are now just minus-one in scoring, 7-6, on the season. Fairfield is +15 in corner kicks, 37-22, and has committed 17 fewer, 61-44, fouls then its opponents.
The Stags and Blue Devils are meeting for the eighth time with the Stags holding a 4-3-0 lead in the all-time series. The teams last met in the regular season in 2007 with the Blue Devils winning 1-0 at the UConn Classic. It marked the third consecutive win in the series for the Blue Devils, all by the 1-0 score, including an overtime victory to open the 2005 season. Fairfield won the first four contests, with a 4-1 triumph in 1996 in the first meeting. A year later the Stags earned a 2-1 win in an NCAA Play-In Game to earn the program's first-ever NCAA Tournament berth. Fairfield won 3-0 at home in 1998 and last won a series meeting in 1999, 4-2, in New Britain.
The Blue Devils snapped a five-game season opening losing streak on Sunday with a 2-1 win over Siena at home. It marked just the second game this season that CCSU had scored goals, being blanked four times after a season opening 2-1 loss at Maine. Morgan Santoro is leading the team with three points, with a goal and an assist. Julie Lavoie and Kerriann Welch have also both scored a goal this fall, with Lavoie tallying the game-winner over Siena. Nikola Deiter has played 495 minutes, and started all six games, in net, and enters play with 35 saves, a 2.00 GAA and a .761 save percentage.
Fairfield and Yale are meeting for the 14th time with the Stags holding a 2-10-1 record in the series and having lost six straight meetings. Last season the Stags forced overtime in New Haven before falling 1-0. Fairfield's last win in the series, also in overtime, came in 2008, 3-2.
Yale is off to its best start since 2004 at 4-1 and will host Sacred Heart Friday night. The Bulldogs are coming off of a 2-0 win over Hartford, scoring both tallies off of corner kicks. The other common for the Stags and Bulldogs is Stony Brook, which Yale defeated 1-0 in the season opener. Leading the offense is Melissa Gavin who has scored four times, two game-winners, with two assists for 10 points. Geneva Decker has scored three times while Frannie Coxe has handed out a team-best five assists.
