FAIRFIELD, Conn. – For the first time since its inaugural varsity season in 1993, Fairfield University Men's Lacrosse hosts crosstown foe Sacred Heart on Wednesday, March 17. Opening faceoff from Conway Field at Rafferty Stadium is slated for 7 p.m. with J.J. Duke calling all of the action live on the Lax Sports Network.
The Stags enter the midweek showdown at 1-3 after most recently falling at #16/17 UMass, 13-9, on Sunday in Amherst.
Dylan Beckwith posted two goals and an assist to run his team-leading total to 16 points through four games.
Matt Chlastawa had a three-point day – as he has in every game this spring – to boost his season numbers to six goals and six assists. Chlastawa, who scored a program-record 284 points at Division III Bates from 2017-20, is four points shy of reaching the 300-point mark for his collegiate career.
Fairfield's third-leading scorer this spring is co-captain
Taylor Strough. The midfielder has netted a team-best 10 goals and dished out one assist.
At the faceoff X,
Frankie Labetti ranks second in the CAA and 14th in the nation in both win percentage (.648) and ground balls per game (7.50).
Jake Tymon's work on the wing and on close defense has him ranked fifth in the CAA in ground balls with five per contest and leading the CAA with 2.25 caused turnovers per outing.
Behind the defense,
Colin Consoli is the conference's most prolific goalkeeper, ranking eighth nationally with 14.50 saves per game. The rookie holds a save percentage of .496 and a 14.75 goals-against average.
Sacred Heart is 1-5 on the season. The Pioneers own split a two-game Northeast Conference series with LIU in addition to non-conference losses to Stony Brook, Hofstra, Holy Cross and Saint Joseph's. The squad went 1-5 last season and finished 9-6 in their last completed campaign in 2019.
Logan Liljeberg has scored 11 goals and leads SHU in assists (15) and points (26), playing a role in more than half of the Pioneers' 55 goals through six games. Drew Edwards is Sacred Heart's top goal scorer with 15 markers to his credit. The Pioneers are .355 at the faceoff X. Connor Callihan heads that effort, standing at a shade under .500 at 37-of-75 with eight ground balls.
The majority of the time in the cage has gone to Colton King, including the last 240 minutes. King over a .555 save percentage with 76 saves and 61 goals allowed.
The all-time series is currently knotted at 2-2. The Stags defeated the Pioneers in 1993 and agains in the most recent meeting in 2019 at Sacred Heart. SHU won the encounter on their campus in 1994 and a neutral-site affair in Boca Raton in 2005.
Wednesday's game marks the final non-conference outing on the Fairfield slate this spring. After a nine-day hiatus, the Stags will be back at Rafferty Stadium to resume CAA play against Hofstra on Friday, March 26 at 7 p.m.
Fairfield Men's Lacrosse home games are not open to the public this season. Click here to read Fairfield Athletics' limited attendance policy for the spring of 2021.
