The Fairfield University men's lacrosse team looks to carry the momentum from Saturday's win over Colgate into a midweek contest at Massachusetts Lowell. Tuesday's game will mark the first-ever meeting between the Stags and River Hawks.
Last Time Out: A 5-0 run in the first quarter and a 4-0 stretch in the second staked Fairfield to a seven-goal halftime lead, and the Stags fended off a late Colgate run to claim a 13-9 victory on a rainy Saturday afternoon at Rafferty Stadium.
Alex Corboy tallied the first four goals of his Fairfield career, while Colin McLinden and Tristan Sperry each posted four points of their own in the victory.
Charlie Schnider added two goals and an assist for Fairfield, and TJ Neubauer buried his team-best 13th goal of the season in addition to six ground balls in the midfield. A pair of sophomores got into the scoring act off the bench as Jake Knostman scored twice, and Dave Fleming added his sixth goal of the spring.
At the other end of the field, Max Buchanan picked up a career-high six ground balls. Brad Nordstrom made 11 saves – his third consecutive game with double-digit stops – to record the win between the posts.
The Matchup: The Stags and River Hawks will meet for the first time on Tuesday in Lowell. UML is in the first season of its “new era” as an NCAA Division I program; the University previously sponsored men's lacrosse from 1970-89.
The squads share two common opponents thus far in 2015. Both teams have a loss at nationally-ranked Yale, while the Stags own a 10-6 win over a Providence team that topped the River Hawks, 11-6.
Scouting Massachusetts-Lowell: The River Hawks enter Tuesday's game with a record of 1-5. UML earned its first-ever Division I victory on March 7 at NJIT - another first-year program - and has since suffered losses to Providence and Hartford.
Jon Phillips has factored into 13 of the River Hawks' 39 tallies this spring with team highs of nine goals and four assists. Cory Highfield (8 goals, 2 assists) and Sean Tyrrell (7 goals, 3 assists) have also reached double-digit points for UML.
Giles Ober has started all six contests in goal, recording a 13.59 goals-against average and a .451 save percentage.
Consistency Is Key: Three Stags - Tristan Sperry, Colin McLinden and Charlie Schnider - have tallied at least one point in each of Fairfield's seven contests thus far in 2015. Not surprisingly, the trio also leads the Stags in scoring. Sperry has piled up a team-best 25 points (12g, 13a), followed by 21 points from McLinden (7g, team-high 14a) and 19 points (11g, 8a) from Schnider. The team leader in goals for the second straight season is TJ Neubauer, who has scored 13 markers in addition to one assist.
Spanning back to last spring, McLinden is in the midst of an 11-game streak with at least one point, while Sperry has notched a point in nine consecutive contests.
The only Stag with a goal in every game this season, Sperry has found the back of the net in eight straight games dating back to his two goals in the 2014 ECAC Championship Game against Air Force.
A Rafferty Residency: The Stags have played three home games thus far in 2015, a total that includes the Feb. 21 meeting with Manhattan that was originally scheduled to be played in Riverdale but relocated to Rafferty Stadium due to inclement weather and poor field conditions at Gaelic Park.
After Tuesday's game at UML, the Stags will play four of their final six regular season contests at home, including a three-game run against CAA Lacrosse foes to close out the campaign.
The Week Ahead: Fairfield is back at Rafferty Stadium on Saturday, March 21 to meet nationally-ranked Villanova at 5:30 p.m. The game is the nightcap of a doubleheader that will also feature Fairfield women's lacrosse opening its MAAC schedule against Manhattan at 2 p.m.
Fairfield University will host the official dedication of Rafferty Stadium in-between the two games (approximately 4 p.m.) as a part of a day-long celebration of Fairfield lacrosse.
