The Fairfield University men's lacrosse team begins its 25th NCAA varsity season this Saturday with its longest road trip of the campaign, heading south to visit the Richmond Spiders. The Stags return eight starters from a 9-8 year in 2016 - their fifth straight winning season - and their first-ever trip to the CAA Championship Game. Fairfield has never finished below .500 either overall or in conference play under the direction of ninth-year head coach Andy Copelan.
The Stags have been ranked as high as No. 17 in the nation by various preseason publications, earning that distinction from the Inside Lacrosse Faceoff Yearbook. Fairfield also checks in at No. 20 in in the preseason edition of the USILA Division I Coaches' Poll and is unranked but receiving votes in the Maverik Division I Media Poll. Fairfield was slotted as No. 2 in the CAA Predicted Order of Finish behind two-time reigning league champion Towson.
Fairfield returns 30 total student-athletes from the 2016 roster, including 12 that made at least three starts and eight who were members of the Stags' regular starting lineup. Offensively, 2017 CAA Preseason Player of the Year Colin Burke, who was the CAA co-Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year last spring, leads the roster of returners after posting 46 goals and 63 total points in his freshman season.
In total, the Stags welcome back nine of the 13 players to record a point last spring, with returners accounting for 106 of the 153 goals (69.28%) and 152 of the 238 total points (63.87%) amassed by last year's club. The returning duo of Tyler Behring (973:17) and Brad Nordstrom (46:43) accounted for all 1020 minutes played in the cage in 2016, and 2017 returners took 364 of 366 faceoffs last season, led by juniors Will Fox and Joe DeLasho.
Unranked but receiving votes in the USILA Coaches' Preseason Poll and slotted at No. 20 in the Maverik Media Poll, the Richmond Spiders enter the 2017 season on the heels of an 11-5 final record last spring. Richmond went 6-1 in the Southern Conference (SoCon) in 2016 with the lone blemish coming at the hands of an Air Force team that also bested the Spiders in the SoCon Championship Game.
2017 marks the senior season for the Richmond student-athletes who comprised the Spiders' first Division I varsity team in 2014, led by Preseason All-SoCon honorees Mitch Goldberg, Brendan Hynes, Jean-Luc Chetner, Ryan Dennis and Peter Moran. Junior Austin Cates was also a Preseason All-SoCon pick as Richmond was tabbed for second behind reigning champion Air Force on the conference's preseason ledger.
Fairfield enters its 25th season opener with an all-time record of 15-9 in the first game of the spring. In eight prior seasons under Copelan, the Stags are 5-3 in their opening game of the year. Fairfield has begun the season with a true road game on three occasions during Copelan's tenure, winning at Lafayette in 2011, at Bryant in 2013 and at Delaware in 2014. Overall, the Stags are 10-14 in road openers but have won 10 of their last 15 road opener after dropping their first nine from 1993 through 2001.
Next Saturday, the Stags make their first of three scheduled treks to Pennsylvania with a trip to Bucknell. Fairfield squares off with Coach Copelan's alma mater beginning at 11:30 a.m. in Lewisburg. The following weekend, the Stags take to Conway Field at Rafferty Stadium for the first time in 2017 with a noon visit from Rutgers.
