FAIRFIELD, Conn. -- With very little to celebrate Wednesday's NCAA tournament victory, the Fairfield University field hockey has turned its focus on playing #2 UConn in the first round of the 2019 NCAA Field Hockey Championship on Friday afternoon. The game will be played at the George Sherman Family Complex on the Storrs campus, beginning at 12 pm.

Following the Fairfield-UConn match, #9 Princeton University will face #13 Syracuse University at 2:30 pm with the winners of the two matches playing on Sunday afternoon for the right to play in the national semifinals in Winston-Salem, N.C. The Stags have a pair of wins against teams that are in the latest NFHCA national coaches' poll, namely Boston College and American University. Fairfield upended Boston College when the Eagles were placed 13th nationally and American when the Eagles were 23rd in the nation. 

Head Coach Jackie Kane led her team to its first win in the Division I tournament on Wednesday, a 3-1 decision over American at University Field on the Fairfield campus. The Stags scored three second-half goals, including two in the fourth quarter, to earn the victory and advance to this weekend's play. The second-half surge is nothing new for Fairfield as the team has scored 22 of its 49 regulation goals in the fourth quarter in addition to netting five overtime goals. 

So far this season, 11 different Fairfield student-athletes have scored a goal in the fourth quarter with Danielle Profita pacing the attack by scoring six goals in the final 15 minutes of regulation. Julianna Kratz, Page Lowry, and Emma Matlach are next in line with three fourth-quarter goals each. Seven other Stags each have one goal after the third quarter. Fifteen Stags have at least two points this season, leading to the Stags outscoring their opposition by a 54-24 margin through 21 games.

Danielle Profita paces the offense with 25 points, posting eight goals and nine assists with three game-winning scores. Luzi Persiehl is next in line with 23 points which includes a team-best 11 assists. All six of Persiehl's goals are game winners including three in overtime. Emma Matlach rounds out the top three scorers with 19 points, most of which come from her team-leading nine goals scored.

Zoe Rosen has started all 21 games in the Fairfield goal this season, playing all but 21 minutes between the posts. The junior places 13th in the nation with her 1.15 goals against average and 14th nationally with her .760 save percentage. 

The Huskies enter the tournament as Big East champions after defeating #18 Old Dominion in the conference championship game, improving the program's record to 18-3 overall. Svea Boker represents the team's top scorer with 53 points, netting 20 goals and 13 assists in her 21 starts. The senior ranks fifth nationally with 0.95 goals per game and fourth in Division I with 2.52 points per game. Sophie Hamilton places second among her teammates with 30 points, recording eight goals and 14 assists in 21 appearances. Cheyenne Sprecher handles the goalkeeper duties, collecting 88 saves and allowing 0.71 goals per game.