FAIRFIELD, Conn. – First place in the CAA will be on the line this Saturday on Conway Field at Rafferty Stadium when Fairfield University Men's Lacrosse hosts Towson at 3:30 p.m. Both the Stags enter Tigers enter the weekend at 2-1 in the conference standings.
 
LAST TIME OUT
A defensive unit that ceded just three goals after halftime and a five-goal outburst in the third quarter from Mike Drake guided Fairfield to a 16-13 come-from-behind win over host UMass in CAA action last Saturday. Dylan Johannes added his first career hat trick as a part of Fairfield's man-up unit in the victory.
 
All of Drake's five goals came in the third quarter, which was a 6-0 stanza in favor of the Stags that turned a 10-7 halftime deficit into a 13-10 advantage. Johannes' tallies were also all in the second half and all came as a part of the man-up unit, which went 3-for-3 after halftime and 3-for-4 for the game. The Stags also got two goals apiece from Kyle Borda and Jack McKenna.
 
The defensive effort was highlighted by a stretch of 32:02 where UMass was held without a goal and the Stags put together a 9-0 run that flipped a 10-6 deficit midway through the second quarter to a commanding 15-10 advantage with under seven minutes to play. Fairfield forced nine turnovers and James Corasaniti made nine of his 14 saves during that span to help facilitate the scoring outburst on the attacking side of the field. Luke Okupski racked up five ground balls with two caused turnovers with Zack Antoniou, Jon Wheat and Evan Keiser each notching a caused turnover.
 
LUKE OKUPSKI: CAA ROOKIE OF THE WEEK
After providing a spark in the midfield in Saturday's victory, Luke Okupski has been named the CAA Rookie of the Week. Okupski collected five ground balls and had a pair of caused turnovers in the 16-13 conference win at UMass. Okupski had one ground ball coming from the wing on faceoffs and picked up an addition four in the midfield to give possession back to the Stags. Two of those grounders came on turnovers that he forced.
 
THE TOWSON UNIVERSITY TIGERS
Most recently on the short side of an 11-10 loss at Delaware, Towson comes to Rafferty Stadium with a record of 5-7 overall and 2-1 in the CAA. The Tigers have played their traditionally arduous non-conference slate, taking four losses to ranked opponents including defending national champion Virginia.
 
The CAA's fifth-ranked attack with 10.83 goals per game is led by 45 points from James Avanzato and a team-best 25 goals by Maryland transfer Nick DeMaio. Kyle Berkeley adds 32 points for the Tigers with 18 goals and 14 assists.
 
Rookie faceoff man Matt Constantinides is currently at .440 on the draw but has been strong in CAA play with a .596 win percentage against league foes.
 
Goalkeeper Shane Brennan ranks third in the CAA with an 11.73 goals-against average and slots fourth with a .523 save percentage. He reels in a league-leading 12.89 saves per outing. The defense in front of him in fueled by All-American Koby Smith's 1.30 caused turnovers per game.
 
ALL-TIME SERIES
Towson holds a 6-1 lead in a series that began when the Stags entered the CAA prior to the 2015 campaign. Four the seven all-time meetings have been decided by one goal. The most notable clash is the 2016 CAA Championship Game, an historic defensive struggle that was won by the Tigers, 4-2, at Unitas Stadium.
 
COACH BAX ON THE UMASS GAME
"This was a great team win. One of our keys was to keep it simple, and I thought we did a good job of simplifying all aspects of the game individually and as units. We knew we would have to scrap and make gritty 'Fairfield Lacrosse' plays for 60 minutes. We did a good job of competing for the whole game – we didn't get down on ourselves when we fell behind and we didn't get complacent when we had the lead."
 
RUNNING AWAY
Saturday's victory at UMass was facilitated by a stretch of 32:02 in which the Stags turned a 10-6 deficit into a 15-10 lead. The 9-0 run featured nine turnovers forced by the defense, and James Corasaniti made nine of his 14 saves during that span to help facilitate the scoring outburst on the attacking side of the field. Mike Drake scored all of his career-best goals during the third quarter of the comeback.
 
A POTENT PAIR
Taylor Strough and Jack McKenna lead the Stags with 37 and 36 goals, respectively. With two games remaining in the 2022 regular season, McKenna and Strough are already Fairfield's first 30-goal duo since Colin Burke scored 46 goals and TJ Neubauer netted 31 in the 2016 campaign. Both have cracked Fairfield's single-season top 10 in goals, which is led by Hall of Famer Spencer Steele's 48 markers in the 1999 campaign.
 
With 73 combined goals, Strough and McKenna enter the weekend as the sixth most prolific goal scoring duo in the nation.
 
1.   89   Jacob Grenier (46) and Max Waldbaum (43), Jacksonville
2.   85   Brennan O'Neil (49) and Dyson Williams (36), Duke
3.   78   John Piatelli (41) and CJ Kirst (37), Cornell
4.  77   Dylan Watson (46) and Graham Bundy (31), Georgetown
5.   74   Brandon Dodd (39) and Brenden Crouse (35), Air Force
6.  73   Taylor Strough (37) and Jack McKenna (36), Fairfield
 
UP NEXT
The Stags close out the 2022 regular season next Saturday, April 30 for a Senior Day visit from Delaware. Opening faceoff at Rafferty Stadium is set for 1 p.m.