FAIRFIELD, Conn. – The Fairfield University women's soccer team will kick off the most important stretch of their regular season schedule when they open up Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) play in Loudonville, N.Y., against Siena College on Saturday. The two teams will meet for the 29th time in program history, with Fairfield holding a 17-7-4 advantage and a 6-5-2 record at Siena. The match is scheduled to begin at 1pm.
 
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: The Stags are coming off a 3-2 setback by the hands on NJIT which concluded their non-conference schedule. Fairfield fell behind five minutes into the match and trailed 2-0 entering halftime. Fairfield used two unanswered goals from freshmen Liz Dumas and Shannon Ryan to get the match back leveled, but the Highlanders responded with a late goal that proved to be the decisive tally. Another rookie, Alex Madden tallied a game-high five shots with two coming on target.
 
TALENTED FRESHMAN CLASS: With the goals scored by Dumas and Ryan against NJIT, three members of the Fairfield freshman class have tallied goals this season. The Stags are one of two teams in the conference to have three rookies tally a goal this season, joining Canisius who also have three players.
 
THE SAINTS SCOUTING REPORT: The Saints will start MAAC play after finishing their non-conference schedule with a 4-3 record, most recently dropping a 2-0 decision to Hartford. Siena is led by Madison Vaszquez, who has tallied a team-high three goals. The Saints have six players to notch at least one assist this season as that group has helped the team to a league leading 11 helpers. In goal, the Saints' defense is secured by goalkeeper Taylor Dorado who has already won two MAAC Defensive Player of the Week awards and has posted a 0.98 goals against average.
 
UP NEXT: The Stags will return home to take on Iona on Wednesday night at 7pm.