FAIRFIELD, Conn. – Fairfield University Men's Lacrosse concludes the 2018 regular season this Saturday at Towson live on the Lax Sports Network. Opening faceoff at Johnny Unitas Stadium is slated for 11 a.m. With a win, the Stags would qualify for the CAA Championship as the #3 seed.
 
Fairfield's Last Time Out
Fairfield claimed an early lead on Saturday but was unable to hold off visiting #18 UMass on Conway Field at Rafferty Stadium. The CAA-leading Minutemen outscored the Stags, 5-0, in the third quarter en route to taking an 11-4 decision.
 
Fairfield got goals from Jack Brennan, Taylor Strough, Dylan Beckwith and Joe Rodrigues. Brennan, Colin Burke and Brendan Quinn each posted an assist to round of the scoring. The Stags outshot the Minutemen, 37-28, but were unable to solve UMass goalkeeper Sean Sconone, who made 20 saves in the cage.
 
At the opposite end of the field, Sean McKee made 10 saves for the Stags and collected five ground balls. Seniors Spencer Noonan and J.B. Smith contributed defensively with two caused turnovers and three ground balls apiece.
 
Scouting Towson
The three-time defending CAA Champion Towson Tigers enter their regular season finale with a record of 5-7 overall and 2-2 in the CAA. Towson would clinch a CAA postseason berth with a win and could also find their way into the top four despite a loss pending other results around the conference this weekend. Should they miss the postseason, the Tigers would finish a campaign below .500 overall for the first time since 2012 and would be below .500 in the CAA for the first time since 2014.
 
After losing six of their top seven scorers from last season, the Tigers are led offensively by 24 points apiece from Timmy Monahan (13g, 11a) and Jon Mazza (16g, 8a), though Mazza has not played a CAA contest after starting throughout the non-conference slate. Jean-Luc Chetner is the third Tiger to reach the 20-point mark in a balanced offense with 13 goals and nine assists.
 
Alex Woodall has been solid at the faceoff dot at .591 (127-for-215) with 76 ground balls. Steven Stillwill has done his part in the backup role with a .593 win percentage (32-for-54).
 
Shane Brennan has emerged as the starter in the cage for Towson. In 11 games played totaling 591:07, Brennan owns a 9.44 goals-against average and a .521 save percentage. The defense in front of him is paced by All-America short-stick midfielder Zach Goodrich and a starting backline headed by Calvin Livingston, Chad Patterson and Gray Bodden.
 
All-Time Series vs. Towson
The lone CAA team that the Stags had never met prior to joining the conference, Towson holds a 3-1 advantage all-time over Fairfield. The Stags upset the #15 Tigers, who went on to reach the Final Four last spring, by a score of 9-8 in the most recent meeting to earn their first-ever win over Towson.
The Stags are 0-2 against Towson at Johnny Unitas Stadium but do own a victory on the Tigers' home turf after knocking off Hofstra in the semifinal round of the 2016
 
Apple Picking
Entering Friday's slate of action, the Stags rank fourth in the nation and lead the CAA with assists on 68 percent of their goals. Fairfield has doled out a helper on 85 of 125 markers this season, led by 22 assists from Colin Burke. Princeton leads the country with 114 assists on 163 goals (69.9 percent).
 
Climbing the Charts
Colin Burke set a new career high with eight points (3g, 5a) on April 14 against Drexel. His eight points were the most by a Stag since Travis Nelson racked up 10 points (4g, 6a) to tie the program record in a win over Harvard on March 18, 2007.
 
After most recently adding an assist to his ledger on Saturday against UMass, Burke moves into a tie with Devin Laden for fifth all-time at Fairfield in points (147) and also now sits ninth in goals (88) and tied for seventh in assists (54) with Tristan Sperry.
 
With 16 goals and 22 assists this season for a team-best 38 total points, he is now one of just six Stags to record 30+ points in each of their first three seasons at Fairfield. Should Burke reach the 40-point mark, he would be only the fourth to meet that plateau in each of his first three campaigns.
 
CAApril
Heading into the final weekend of the regular season, the Colonial Athletic Association has lived up to its national reputation as the "black and blue division" of college lacrosse. At the start of Friday night's action, all six teams are in contention for a CAA Championship berth.
 
Historically, three wins has been the magic number for a berth in the CAA Championship. A 3-2 team has never missed the postseason in the eight seasons in which the conference has been comprised of six squads. This spring, as many as three 2-3 teams can qualify for the tournament.