WEST HAVEN, Conn. – Although there may be still some disappointment lingering following today's 2-0 setback at Sacred Heart University, the Fairfield University field hockey team knows that it will still be playing next weekend when the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference tournament begins. With its win over Rider, the MAAC tournament will be held on the Monmouth University campus. Final pairings and game times will be announced by the conference on Monday.

In a driving rain, the Stags did all they could to win this game, including outshooting the Pioneers in the first half by a 6-4 margin. But each time a shot was on goal, goalkeeper Lauren Musselman was there to keep the ball out of the goal.

Sacred Heart came out in the second half and was able to control play more, eventually outshooting Fairfield by a 10-7 count over the final 35 minutes. More importantly, six of those 10 shots were on target and kept goalkeeper Caitlin Gilligan busy through most of the half. She managed to turn away four of those six shots on goal, but two of the attempts found the back of the cage.

The first goal came from Lauren Lawson, who took a pass in the center of the circle and used her stick to find an opening. Gilligan charged off her line and dove to disrupt Lawson, but the forward was able to flick the ball with her backhand and place the ball into the far corner of the goal. The second goal came when Kelsy Hopkins converted a pass from Makenna Crawford with 13 minutes remaining, providing a comfortable lead for the Pioneers.

The Stags had a few opportunities late in the game as Hannah Pike and Andrea Soler unfurled a few backhanders that required saves from Musselman and Hailey Power. Fairfield mixed in a couple of penalty corners late that created chances, including one from Erin Buckley who took a shot that was turned away in the closing minutes.

The MAAC tournament field will be set later on this afternoon so check back to this web site for updated information regarding pairings for and site of the tournament.