Playing a home opener is always something that every coach and student-athlete anticipates at the start of their season. For the Fairfield University men's soccer team, the anticipation has lasted more than three weeks but that wait will come to an end on Tuesday night.

            After a five-game road trip to start the season, the Stags will return home for their first home game of the 2018 campaign, hosting Army West Point at Rafferty Stadium beginning at 7 pm. It doesn't seem that long ago that Fairfield fans and student-athletes met near midfield and celebrated the Stags' Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Championship. For Head Coach Carl Rees, there is no one that he would rather celebrate with than Fairfield's faithful.

            "Last year, the fans were very supportive and always have been historically," Rees said. "The celebration after we won the MAAC championship last year was fantastic and was well noticed on social media by other coaches. The atmosphere has a big impact on the game and on the players. It's been tremendous and is appreciated."

            The Stags non-conference schedule is nothing less than daunting especially with five road games that included two top-20 teams. And while he is grateful to finally being able to play at home, Coach Rees recognizes that the difficulty of his non-conference slate does not relent with Army West Point and Saint Joseph's University coming to town this week.

            "Army is very strong team that is highly respected," Coach Rees said. "They are very good tactically and will be a gauge for us on where we are at this point of the season."

      The Black Knights started the season with a pair of losses but have shown resiliency lately. After starting the season with a pair of losses, Army West Point is unbeaten in its last four games. The Black Knights own a 3-0-1 mark during the current successful run, including a 2-0 win against Mount St. Mary's in their last outing over the weekend. The team has not allowed a goal in 227 minutes, dating back to Columbia's goal in the 63rd minute of a 1-1 draw on September 7.
 
      Against Mount St. Mary's, Keenan O'Shea put the Black Knights on the scoreboard quickly, finding the back of the net in the eighth minute.  The junior was also involved in the team's second goal, setting up Eric Whiteman's goal that pushed the score to 2-0 with 27 minutes left in the match. Justin Stoll recorded the shutouts by stopping all three shots that were on target, picking up his first shutout of the season.
 
      Stoll checks into tonight's game with a 0.95 goals against average, having played in all but seven minutes of the 2018 campaign. He owns a .750 save percentage with 18 saves and six goals allowed in the team's six matches.
      O'Shea represents the squad's top offensive threat with four goals and three assists for 11 points in his six starts this year. Whiteman is a close second with three goals for six points which includes the game-winning goal against Siena.
 
      The Stags are coming off a nine-day layoff and play for the first time since participating in the UNC-Wilmington Tournament on September 7-9. During that tournament, Fairfield collected a 2-1 win over their ninth-ranked host off a pair of goals from Diego Casielles.
 
      "We need a break with the all the travel involved with the start of the year," Coach Rees said. "The travel down to North Carolina and playing in the heat down there took its toll so the time off in between was helpful. We have been training well as week and we are looking forward to what amounts to a fresh start."
 
      Casielles looks to build on his success the previous week which featured him as the MAAC Offensive Player of the Week after scoring the game-winning goals against Yale and #9 UNCW. Freshman Jack Weiss also had a strong showing in the tournament, scoring a goal and assisting on a second goal in a 3-2 overtime loss to the College of Charleston. Goalkeeper Gordon Botterill remains handy in the Fairfield goal, checking into the tournament with a 1.57 goals against average with 24 saves to his credit.
 
      The Army West Point game is the first of three straight home games for the Stags, a stand which also includes Saint Joseph's on September 22 and Niagara University on September 29. The Niagara game represents the team's conference opener.
 
      For now, the team will focus on their home opener on Tuesday night and getting reacquainted with the Fairfield faithful once again.