FAIRFIELD, Conn. – The first NCAA Tournament appearance for the Fairfield University Women's Soccer team in 16 years will bring them to the nation's capital as the MAAC Champion Stags drew six-seeded Georgetown in the first round. The Stags are in the midst of one of the best seasons in program history, bringing the most wins and the second-highest winning percentage in the nation into the match. The first-round match will take place on Saturday at noon.
"I'm really excited," Head Coach
David Barrett said. "We were hoping that we would be seeded where we were. Georgetown is really, really good as the Big East regular season champs. They have a lot of good players, well-coached, well-organized. We're excited for the opportunity to go and play them."
The Stags punched their ticket to the Big Dance after capturing the MAAC Championship crown with a 1-0 victory over Quinnipiac. The title was the ninth in program history for the Stags and their first since 2008.
Fairfield brings the nation's second-highest winning percentage into the match with an 18-2-1 overall record, which helped them to the MAAC Regular Season title. The 18 wins matches the most in a season in program history and is tied for the most in Division I.
The Stags earned eight All-MAAC selections in their historic season including the MAAC Golden Boot award in
Maddy Theriault, whos 13 goals leads the league and places in the top-20 in the country.
The MAAC Coach of the Year,
David Barrett will be entering the NCAA Tournament for the 11th time in his career and the first time at the Division I level. Barrett guided Illinois Wesleyan to the Final Four in 2014.
Georgetown won the Big East regular season championship with a 8-1-1 conference record while also maintaining a 12-3-4 overall mark. Maja Lardner is the team's leading scorer with 10 goals while starting goalkeeper Cara Martin holds a 0.29 goals against average, allowing three goals in 945 minutes.
The winner of the first-round match will play the winner of Iowa and Missouri St., in the second round.
