FAIRFIELD, Conn. -- Being able to depend upon several student-athletes inside the circle is vital to a field hockey team's success. The Fairfield University field hockey team showed that it has many scoring options once the ball is sent into the circle as five different Stags found the back of the goal in a 5-0 win over Stonehill College.
Head Coach
Jackie Kane saw her team apply pressure on the Skyhawks from the start as the team managed to register 37 shots with 23 of those attempts being on target. Besides the five goals scored, Fairfield forced Stonehill goalkeeper Shannon Conte to make 18 saves in order to keep her team within reach for most of the game. The home team managed to score one goal in each of the first three quarters to hold a 3-0 advantage through 45 minutes. But it was Conte's nine saves that kept the score at just a three-goal deficit as the Stags managed to take 14 shots in the third quarter alone.
The game was scoreless for the 11 minutes as the Stags were able to work their way into the circle and gain penalty corner after penalty corner, but could not find a way to push a ball past Conte. In the 11th minute,
Alex Senior finally worked some magic when she took a ball at the far corner of the circle and brought the ball toward goal. After drawing a defender or two, the freshman sent a cross onto the stick of
Emma Radebaugh who finished with a one-timer that found the back of the cage.
In the second quarter, it took Fairfield nearly the entire period to double its advantage. With just six seconds remaining in the half,
Erin McGinley sent a pass to
Julianna Kratz who found some space to the far side of the goal and pushed a shot in that direction to make the score 2-0 at the intermission. It was the seventh shot of the quarter for Fairfield while Stonehill managed its lone attempt of the game earlier in the quarter. With the score still 1-0, a long pass was able to free Claudia Crowe for a one-on-one opportunity. Goalkeeper
Payton Rahn came off her line and was able to disrupt Crowe's shot and clear it aside with a kick save.
The Stags were able to get their third goal a little quicker than the first two as
Madison Hoskins converted a pass from
Nora Amme into a goal which made it a 3-0 advantage with seven minutes remaining in the quarter. Fairfield closed out the game with two more goals in the fourth quarter following a goal from both
Carmel Van Dijk and
Katie Keane. Amme set up the fourth goal with solid ball movement into the circle and a pass to the center. Van Dijk returned the favor by setting up
Katie Keane with her first goal of the season that closed the scoring.
Rahn made one save in the game and combined with
Olivia Warchol who relieved her teammate in the 49th minute.
"This was a great win heading into our final regular season game as well as the NEC tournament next weekend," Coach Kane said. "We had great build up today and need to continue this trend against La Salle and in the conference tournament by keeping good ball movement and good ball pace to set up scoring opportunities."
Fairfield plays its final regular-season game against La Salle on Sunday afternoon, hosting the Explorers for a 1 pm game at University Field. Prior to the match, the Stags will honor the seniors with a special ceremony.
