FAIRFIELD, Conn. – With a regular-season championship tucked away, the Fairfield University field hockey team will begin its quest for a Northeast Conference (NEC) Tournament title this weekend. The top-seeded Stags will face defending champion and fourth seed Rider University in a semifinal match on Friday. The game will start at 11 am on the campus of Wagner College, host of this year's tournament.

Fairfield ended the campaign with a 12-7 overall record and an unblemished NEC mark of 7-0. The unblemished conference record represents the second time in the last three years that the Stags went undefeated during the NEC campaign, winning all six conference games in 2019. Head Coach Jackie Kane led the Stags to the 2019 NEC Tournament Championship and recorded a program-best 19 wins that year.

But Coach Kane knows that it's the present that counts and so she will prepare her team for three formidable opponents that comprise this year's tournament field. In addition to Rider, host Wagner College holds the number two seed after collecting a 9-9 overall and a 5-2 conference record. LIU qualified as the third seed after sporting a 6-10 overall and a 4-3 NEC record.

 Rider earned the fourth seed after ending the regular season with an 11-7 overall record and a 4-3 NEC slate. The Broncs feature the NEC Offensive Player of the Year in Julia Divorra who finished the regular season with 14 goals and five assists for 33 points. Carly Brosious, who joined Divorra on the All-NEC first team, is also enjoying offensive success with her 12 goals and five assists for 29 points. Rider has used a rotation in the goal this season with Kaitlyn Tomas receiving a majority of the minutes. She has 11 starts with a 1.73 goals against average and a .700 save percentage with 42 saves.

Wagner won its final three conference matches and finished the season with four straight victories. Julia Pastorino scored six goals during that four-game run which brought her season scoring totals to 14 goals and seven assists for 35 points. Liselotte Koop has also found ways to find the back of the cage this season, registering eight goals and nine assists for 25 points in her 18 starts. Goalkeeper Daisy Ruhle has been the primary player in between the posts for Wagner, owning a 1.84 goals against average with a .766 save percentage and 98 saves.

LIU ended the year with a 3-0 win over Sacred Heart before falling to Bryant and Saint Francis by back-to-back 1-0 scores. The Sharks feature Sammy Bell and Felicia King, both of whom have scored tallied 14 points on the season. Bell serves as the top goal scorer with 14 points while King is the team's co-leader with four assists along with her five goals. Rachel Vellis has started all 16 games in the LIU goal, garnering a 1.60 goals against average with a .734 save percentage off 69 saves.

Fairfield comes into the tournament ranked first among NEC teams for goals against average (1.07) and shutouts (8). All-NEC defenders Mackenzie Boyle, Emily Kness, and Luzi Persiehl join goalkeeper Zoe Rosen in keeping the opposition off the scoreboard. In the latest NCAA statistics, Rosen is ranked fourth for save percentage (.821), ninth in goals against average (1.11), and 25^th in saves per game (5.05). Boyle, Kness, and Persiehl have provided Rosen with a solid back line which has limited the opposition to one goal or less 13 times this season.

The offense has excelled behind the play of NEC Player of the Year Malen Iglesias who has tallied a personal-best nine goals and two assists for 20 points this season. She accounts for five of the team's 12 game-winning goals which includes three against NEC foes. All-NEC players Danielle Profita and Julianna Kratz have also found success inside the circle with Profita posting six goals and five assists for 17 points followed by Kratz's six goals and two assists for 14 points.

The winners of the NEC Tournament semifinals will face each other on Sunday at noon for a chance to advance to the NCAA Tournament.