FAIRFIELD, Conn. – There were a lot of superlatives floating around University Field when the final buzzer sounded, completing the Fairfield University field hockey team's 6-0 win over Long Island University (LIU).

Most importantly, the victory clinched the Northeast Conference (NEC) regular season title for the Stags as the team finished the regular-season with a 6-0 mark. And, the victory extended the team's winning streak to a program best eight games while at the same time picking up the team's 15th win of the campaign.

"It was one of our goals to be undefeated in the conference so the team followed through on that today," Head Coach Jackie Kane said. "We wanted to be playing our best hockey going into the conference tournament and I think we have shown that over the last few weeks. I think we received a solid performance from everyone."

The conference tournament is scheduled for next weekend with the semifinals scheduled for Friday and the championship game on Sunday, an event hosted by Wagner College. The winner of the tournament claims the conference's berth to the NCAA tournament.

Fairfield, which had become notorious for winning games late in the fourth quarter or overtime this season, didn't leave this game to chance. For the fifth time in 17 games, the Stags scored a first-quarter goal when Luzi Persiehl controlled a ball in the center of the circle and pushed the ball past the goalkeeper in the ninth minute of play.
The early goal only whetted the Stags offensive appetite on this day as the team would score five more goals to finish with a season high six goals, one better than a 5-0 win over St. Francis Pa. in September.

Fairfield padded its lead with two more goals in the second quarter, beginning with freshman Page Lowry's shot that occurred when she collected a rebound and one-timed a shot past the goalkeeper at the 18:25 mark. The final goal of the first half belonged to Faith Spaziano who finished a superb 3-on-2 break that started with Persiehl sprinting down the center of the field before sending a pass into Madison Hoskins, who made a cut toward the far post. She collected the ball and sent a back pass to Spaziano who finished with a hard shot that found the corner of the cage and sent the home team into halftime with a comfortable lead.

The third quarter saw Fairfield take the only two shots of the period but one of those attempts resulted in the team's fourth goal. Danielle Profita made this play happen with some strong stick work on the left side of the circle, carrying the ball into danger before finding Emma Matlach cutting toward the goal. Matlach accepted Profita's pass and finished with a one-timer into the far corner to push the score to 4-0.

Coach Kane made several changes to start the fourth quarter including inserting freshmen McKenna Dolan and Katie Keane. Both rookie each repaid their coach's confidence with a goal, finishing off the scoring. Profita set up Dolan's goal with a pass from outside the left circle which Dolan redirected with a quick stick to send the ball into the upper left corner of the goal. Keane secured a loose ball and struck the ball into the corner for her first career goal as well.

"I think today's game will help us with our confidence because we were able to score in every quarter and implement our game plan from the very beginning," Coach Kane said. "But we still need to focus on what is right in front of us and not get ahead of ourselves. We have Drexel on Sunday so that's where we are looking right now."

The Stags will host Drexel on Sunday afternoon for the final regular season game of the 2019 campaign. The team will also honor senior Emily Halderson prior to the game for her four-year career with the field hockey program.