NEWARK, Del. – The Fairfield University men's lacrosse team clinched a share of its second consecutive Colonial Athletic Association regular season title on Friday night, capping the regular season with a 10-5 win at Delaware. Colin Burke scored four goals to set a pair of program records in the victory.
Fairfield (8-7, 4-1 CAA) will share the CAA regular season crown with the winner of Saturday's matchup featuring No. 12 Towson traveling to Hofstra. If the Pride wins tomorrow's contest, the Stags will host the CAA Championship next weekend on Conway Field at Rafferty Stadium. If the Tigers win, the tournament will be held at Towson's Johnny Unitas Stadium.
Including the 2014 ECAC Lacrosse League regular season title, the Stags have won their third straight regular season championship.
With four goals tonight, Burke vaulted himself to the top of a pair of all-time lists in program history. His 41 goals this season surpass the Fairfield freshman record of 38 established by Spencer Steele '00. His 55 points this spring top the freshman record of 53 set by J.T. Groarke '99. Steele and Groarke are both members of the Fairfield Athletics Hall of Fame.
In the overall Fairfield record book, Burke has tallied the first 40-goal season and the first 55-point season by a Stag since Steele set his program records of 48 goals and 75 points in 1999.
Nico Panepinto also racked up four points this evening with two goals and two assists. Charlie Schnider and Joe Rodrigues each added a goal and an assist, and Conor Dalton handed out two helpers.
Rounding out the scoring tonight were TJ Neubauer and Jake Knostman with one goal apiece and Charlie Horning with one assist. Neubauer's goal marked the 106th of his career, tying Groarke for third on Fairfield's all-time scoring list.
Defensively, Tyler Behring made 12 saves, including seven in the fourth quarter as the Stags pulled away to a victory. In unit in front of Behring was led by four ground balls and three caused turnovers by Matt Borda.
Will Fox controlled the flow of the game from the faceoff 'X', where he went 12-of-17. Fox also collected five ground balls, and three of Joe Guidarelli's four ground balls came during faceoff situations.
Delaware sees its 2016 season come to an end at 5-10 overall and 2-3 in the CAA. The Blue Hens were led this evening by two goals from Andrew Romagnoli and a three-assist performance by Dean DiSimone.
Parker Ferrigan made five saves in the cage for the hosts, and the defense in front of him helped the effort with eight caused turnovers.
After an evenly played 30 minutes of action that saw Delaware take a 4-3 lead into the intermission, the Stags defense clamped down in the second half, allowing the offense to make the run that decided the game. The Stags scored six consecutive goals to open the second-half scoring as Delaware would not solve Behring again until just 1:43 remained on the clock with the Stags owning a comfortable lead.
The Blue Hens scoreless stretch spanned 31:15 of clock time, a span that included seven saves by Behring and six Delaware turnovers.
The CAA Championship Semifinals are set to be played on Thursday, May 5 with the CAA Championship Game slated for Saturday, May 7. FairfieldStags.com will have updated information regarding the postseason as details are finalized and announced by the CAA.
