FAIRFIELD, Conn. -- The Fairfield University men's soccer team will return to Lessing Field on Wednesday night when LIU comes to campus for a non-conference match. The Stags played their last two games on the road and came away with a pair of shutouts, beating Brown University by a 6-0 score and Colgate by a 1-0 count. The team enters this match all even at 2-2-0 overall while LIU brings a 3-2-0 mark which includes a 2-1 loss to #5 University of Akron in its last match.

About The Series

• Fairfield and LIU will get together for the first time since the 2013 campaign which completed a home-and-home series between the two teams. The visiting team won in both of the two meetings with the Stags posting a 2-1 win in New York in the 2012 meeting while LIU won by the same score in Fairfield during the 2013 season. In the 2012 match, LIU took the lead in the first half on a Jakeem Johnson goal in the 39th minute. Fairfield tied the match on Reco McLaren's goal in the 79th minute before Tim West netted the deciding goal two minutes into overtime. The following year, LIU wrapped a pair of goals around McLaren's score to leave Fairfield with a 2-1 win at Lessing Field.

About Fairfield

• The Stags won their second straight road contest of the season with a 1-0 decision over Colgate last Saturday. Cody Read netted the game's lone goal which came in the 82nd minute, his first goal as a Fairfield student-athlete. It marked the first time that the Stags won their first two road games of a season since defeating Columbia (1-0) and LIU in 2012. The performance also represented Fairfield's first back-to-back shutouts in its first two road games since edging Hartwick (2-0) and Manhattan (4-0) in the 2000 campaign.
• James Anderson collected both clean sheets last week, making five saves in the decision in the Brown win and one save in the Colgate match to give him 16 saves in four matches. He owns a .800 save percentage on the season which goes well with his 1.00 goals against average. He currently ranks third in goals against average and fifth in save percentage among the MAAC goalkeepers this year. He is tied for the conference's top spot in shutouts per game (.500).
• Cody Read's game-winning goal against Colgate made him the seventh different Stag to score a goal this season and the ninth Fairfield student-athlete to post a point on the statistics sheet. William Pierce is the team's top scorer with two goals, both coming against Brown, while six others have one goal each. Raz Amir and Alex Oliveira have not scored a goal to date but each have an assist on the ledger. 
• The Stags rank second in the MAAC with 2.00 goals per game, trailing only Canisius which has tallied 12 goals in five dates (2.40 goals per game). Defensively, Fairfield is allowing 1.00 goals per game which is second in the conference behind Quinnipiac and Rider who have both allowed three goals in four matches so far.

About LIU

• The Sharks won three of their first four games before being edged by fifth-ranked University of Akron on the road in their last outing. The team's victories include road wins against Stony Brook and UConn as well as a 4-0 decision over VMI at home. LIU posted back to back shutouts against UConn and VMI before seeing the consecutive minute streak end with its 2-1 setback against Akron.
• Ben Assane Fall represents the team's top scorer with three goals and one assist, scoring a goal against Stony Brook, UConn, and VMI. Emil Jaaskelainen also has multiple goals on the year with two goals and two assists for six points, finding the back of the net in consecutive games against UConn and VMI. Goalkeeper Eoin Gawronski has put together a strong start to the season, registering a 1.20 goals against average and a .778 save percentage (21 saves).
• LIU has spent plenty of time on the road to start the season, playing its fifth road match out of six dates when it comes to Fairfield on Wednesday night. The team will return home for a pair of games at LIU Soccer Park when its welcomes Columbia University on September 16 and Hofstra University on September 19. The Sharks return to the road for a pair of Northeast Conference (NEC) games at Central Connecticut State University and Sacred Heart University on September 24 and October 1 respectively.

Up Next

• The Stags are in the midst of a home-and-away scenario over the next few weeks. After the home game with LIU, the team will take to the road for its Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) opener at Mount St. Mary's on September 16 before coming home to meet up with Harvard University on September 19.