FAIRFIELD, Conn. – In a season where the Stags have dealt with all the bad breaks, another unlucky bounce went against them. Brenna Brown's potential game-winning shot banged off the crossbar and the reigning MAAC Champion Siena Saints responded two minutes later when captain Kristen Connors ended the game with her second score and Fairfield dropped their second-straight 2-1 overtime decision.
“It's continued frustration,” Head Coach Jim O'Brien said. “This team's work rate is unparalleled as far as practice is concerned. It's unfortunate that we can't put a game away and we put ourselves in the position to go into overtime. For a lack of a better we were snake bitten. The ball goes off the crossbar and a couple of minutes later they have the ball in the back of the net. It's frustrating.”
Brown unleashed Fairfield's first overtime shot well beyond the 18-yard box. The ball kept rising and hit the underside of the crossbar and the rebounded shot by Julia McGuire went wide. Siena set up an attack and the play ended with Michele Tremblay hitting the loose ball to Connors and the captain converted the cross.
If Brown's overtime shot had gone through, it would have been the second of the match for the senior who opened up the scoring in the 19th minute when Brown stole the ball away from the Siena goalkeeper and found the back of the net for her team leading fourth goal of the season. That advantage held until the first few minutes of the second half when Siena's Connors scored her first goal of the evening, coming off a cross from Kelsy Horst.
Neither team had great chances for the rest of the half as both sides did not take a shot for nearly 40 minutes. The best chance for the Stags came off a corner kick that found the head of Melanie Hingher but the freshman's header was wide.
Fairfield had a few chances that won't show up on the stat sheet with the best coming from the combination of McGuire and Sydney Arestivo, but the backline of the Saints was able to take away that opportunity without a shot being taken.
Both teams were even in attempts with Fairfield and Siena taking eight shots each. Jenna Pike picked up two saves for the Stags while the combination of Kamryn Peffley and Taylor Dorado collected one save for the Saints.
The Stags are back in action on Wednesday when they travel to in-state rival Quinnipiac at 3pm.
