FAIRFIELD, Conn. – Fairfield University Men's Lacrosse continues a three-game homestand and closes out the non-conference slate on Tuesday, March 22 with a visit from St. John's. Opening faceoff on Conway Field at Rafferty Stadium is slated for 7 p.m.
LAST TIME OUT
James Corasaniti set a new career high in saves for the second straight game and nine different players contributed to the scoring as Fairfield knocked off visiting Providence, 15-11, on Saturday afternoon at Rafferty Stadium.
Taylor Strough paced the high-powered attack with four goals and a career-high three assists to match his personal best with a seven-point day.
Max Paparozzi netted his third hat trick of the season and dished out an assist.
Jack McKenna continued his torrid start with a hat trick, and
Mike Drake notched three points by way of two goals and an assist.
In the defensive midfield,
Dean Ford had a career day with six ground balls along with a pair of caused turnovers, and LSM
Evan Keiser nabbed a pair of grounders coming off the wing on faceoffs.
TWO WINS = TWO AWARDS
After leading Fairfield on opposite ends of the field in a 2-0 week,
James Corasaniti and
Jack McKenna have earned weekly recognition from the CAA. Corasaniti was tabbed as CAA co-Player of the Week for the first time is his career, while McKenna collected his third CAA Rookie of the Week distinction of the 2022 campaign.
Corasaniti starred in the cage, making 21 stops at Binghamton and 23 against Providence for a .667 save percentage. He is the only goalkeeper in nation to make 20+ saves and earn the win in two separate games this season.
McKenna tallied a team-leading eight goals and dished out an assist this past week. He set a new career high with six points – five goals and one helper – at Binghamton.
THE ST. JOHN'S UNIVERSITY RED STORM
St. John's was on the short end of 17-10 loss at Dartmouth on Saturday, falling to 1-6 on the year. The Red Storm owns a win over Manhattan with additional losses to Rutgers, Bucknell, Stony Brook, Hofstra and Siena.
St. John's is led offensively by Jonathan Huber with 18 goals and four assists for a team-best 22 points. Brian Kelly adds 10 goals and 11 assists, and Dylan Willis has also dished out 11 helpers in addition to four goals of his own.
Jake Oemcke has taken the majority of the draws for St. John's, posting a 59-for-114 (.518) mark with 31 ground balls. Kaden Quirk has started all seven games in the cage, holding a .427 save percentage and a 15.11 goals-against average in his 373 minutes of work.
LAST MEETING: FAIRFIELD 17, ST. JOHN'S 5 (4/25/2009 at Lessing Field)
Fairfield capped the 2009 season in winning fashion with a 17-5 ECAC win over visiting St. John's on April 25, 2009. Chris Ajemian scored four goals for the Stags with Brent Adams adding a pair and Dan Hettler distributing three assists.
Charlie Cipriano earned the win in the cage with 12 stops and four goals allowed in 51 minutes. Joe Marra completed the effort and made two saves with one goal allowed.
ALL-TIME SERIES
Fairfield leads the all-time series with St. John's, 4-1. The series began in 2005 with the lone non-conference meeting between the clubs -- a 17-5 win for a Fairfield team that was en route to the GWLL title and an NCAA postseason berth. The Stags and Red Storm then met as adversaries in the ECAC Lacrosse League from 2006-09. The teams are meeting for the first time since St. John's joined the Big East Conference when the league launched in 2010.
CORSO SAVES THE DAY
James Corasaniti made a career-high 21 saves in the win at Binghamton, then topped that effort with 23 stops in Saturday's win over Providence.
His 23 stops are the most for Fairfield goalkeeper since Tyler Behring also turned away 23 Bucknell offerings during the 2016 campaign.
The last Fairfield goalkeeper to make more than 23 saves in a game was Hall of Famer Sam Peterson, who did so many times in his career from 1994-97, when he posted an average 19.58 saves per game in his career, which still stands as the NCAA Division I record.
While Corasaniti's 251 minutes in the cage do not officially qualify him for the national leaders, his .633 save percentage would currently slot third in the nation. He is only goalkeeper in the nation to make 20+ saves and earn the win in two separate games this season.
STROUGH ABOUT THAT
Taylor Strough has scored a team-best 28 goals, leading the CAA and ranking eighth in the nation at 3.50 goals per game. He also slots second in the conference at 4.12 points per contest. Strough has scored the goal that stood up as the game-winner in four of the Stags' five wins.
STROUGH JOINS THE CENTURY CLUB
With five goals in the March 8 win over Quinnipiac,
Taylor Strough became the seventh member of the Stags' 100 Goal Club. He has since reached 106 career goals to tie
Dylan Beckwith and J.T. Groarke for fourth all-time on the ledger, three goals shy of tying TJ Neubauer to enter the top three. Strough is also ranked 11th all-time in points at Fairfield at 129.
FRANKIE ON THE FACEOFF
Frankie Labetti continues to climb the all-time ledger as one of the top faceoff men in Fairfield history. With 427 faceoff wins, Labetti has surpassed Michael Roe (2012-14) for third all-time. He has also nabbed 244 ground balls in his career, trailing only the 290 collected by NCAA and MLL faceoff legend Peter Vlahakis from 2001-04. With a .545 win percentage on the draw, Labetti is chasing the second-place mark of .555 set by his predecessor and former teammate, Will Fox. Vlahakis owns that mark as well with a .627 win percentage en route to his program best 620 faceoff victories.
UP NEXT
The Stags conclude their three-game homestand and open up CAA action on Saturday, April 2 with a 1 p.m. visit from Hofstra. The Pride will enter a weekend clash at Providence with a record of 4-5 before coming to Rafferty Stadium next Saturday.
