FAIRFIELD, Conn. – The regular season concludes this Saturday on Conway Field at Rafferty Stadium when Fairfield University Men's Lacrosse hosts Delaware on Senior Day. Opening faceoff is slated for 1 p.m. with J.J. Duke calling the action live on the Stags Sports Network and Lax Sports Network.
 
LAST TIME OUT
A flurry of first quarter goals gave way to a defensive showdown between Fairfield visiting Towson last Saturday at Rafferty Stadium. Jack McKenna accounted for more than half of Fairfield's scoring with five goals in a 12-8 setback to the first-place Tigers.
 
After 11 combined goals in the first 13:31 of the game, the Stags and Tigers only mustered nine markers total – including an empty netter – over the remainder of the contest. James Corasaniti made 13 saves in the cage to help keep the Stags in the hunt, while the defense pressured the Tigers into 16 turnovers. Starting close defensemen Braden Lynch, Caleb McNaull and Zack Antoniou helped lead the effort on that side of the field with two ground balls apiece.
 
The Stags also got single tallies from Taylor Strough, Kyle Borda and Max Paparozzi. Bryce Ford dished out two assists working from X, and Mike Drake capped the scoring with one assist.
 
The Towson attack was led by two goals and one assist apiece for Luke Shilling and James Avanzato. Austin Stewart added two goals and Nick DeMaio had a goal and an assist for the visitors. Shane Brennan made 16 saves in the Towson cage.
 
WHAT'S AT STAKE
Entering the weekend slate, Fairfield and Delaware both need a win to ensure a slot in the four-team CAA Championship. The Stags can also clinch a postseason berth if Drexel defeats UMass in Amherst on Friday evening. The Blue Hens can also make the playoffs in spite of a Saturday loss if UMass beats Drexel on Friday and Hofstra loses at Towson on Saturday.
 
THE UNIVERSITY OF DELAWARE BLUE HENS
In classic CAA fashion, Delaware has played four one-goal games on its way to a 2-2 league record as a part of an 8-5 overall mark. The Blue Hens dropped one-goal games to UMass and Hofstra before edging Towson and Drexel in their last two outings. The Delaware non-conference slate was highlighted by a win over then-#18 Johns Hopkins.
 
The CAA's second-ranked offense (behind Fairfield) with 13.31 goals per game is led by 38 goals from Mike Robinson and 49 total points (27 goals, 22 assist) from JP Ward. Mark Bieda shares the team high in assists with Ward, dishing 22 to go along with his 11 goals. The Blue Hen attack is also bolstered by the fewest turnovers per game in the nation at 13.31.
 
Matt Kilkeary has shared time in the cage, playing a team-best 414 minutes en route to a .491 save percentage. Paul Reidy adds a nearly identical .489 save percentage in his 361 minutes of work.
 
Just under 80 percent of Delaware's faceoffs have been taken by Logan Premtaj, who ranks fourth in the conference with a .464 win percentage. He has come away with a team-best 52 ground balls and has helped jumpstart the offense with two assists.
 
ALL-TIME SERIES
Delaware holds a 7-5 lead in a series that dates back to 1995. The Stags' five wins over the Blue Hens came consecutively from 2009-17, but Delaware has since won the last four meetings. Saturday will be the third time that the teams are meeting on the final day of the regular season, with the Stags earning the win in 2016 to claim a share of the CAA regular season title and in 2017 to close the campaign with a Senior Night victory.
 
A POTENT PAIR
Jack McKenna and Taylor Strough lead the Stags with 41 and 38 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 79 combined goals, Strough and McKenna enter the weekend as the fifth-most prolific goal scoring duo in the nation.
 
1.            93           Jacob Grenier (48) and Max Waldbaum (45), Jacksonville
2.            85           Brennan O'Neil (49) and Dyson Williams (36), Duke
3.            84           John Piatelli (46) and CJ Kirst (38), Cornell
4.            83           Dylan Watson (50) and Graham Bundy (33), Georgetown
5.            79           Jack McKenna (41) and Taylor Strough (38), Fairfield
               79           Brandon Dodd (44) and Brenden Crouse (35), Air Force
 
The Fairfield record for a duo is held by Matt Callaghan (45) and J.T. Groarke (40), who were the Stags' only 40-goal pair in the 1997 MAAC Championship campaign.
 
FRANKIE ON THE FACEOFF
Frankie Labetti continues to climb the all-time ledger as one of the top faceoff men in Fairfield history. With 492 faceoff wins, Labetti has surpassed Michael Roe (2012-14) for third all-time. He has also nabbed 285 ground balls in his career, trailing only the 290 collected by NCAA and MLL faceoff legend Peter Vlahakis from 2001-04.
 
THE MAYOR
Fairfield, Connecticut native Jack McKenna leads the CAA and ranks 15th in the nation with 3.15 goals per game. Among freshmen, he is the nation's third-leading goal scorer. McKenna is a three-time CAA Rookie of the Week and has scored multiple goals in all 13 games this season, including eight hat tricks. His 41 goals are the most scored by a Fairfield freshman since Colin Burke netted 46 on his way to 63 points and CAA Rookie and co-Player of the Year accolades in the 2016 season. Burke was also the last true freshman to lead the CAA in goals (46) and goals per game (2.71).