FAIRFIELD, Conn. -- The Fairfield University field hockey team will play for the Northeast Conference Championship on Saturday afternoon, taking on host and top-seeded Wagner College beginning at noon in Staten Island. The winner of the NEC title game will receive the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament which begins on November 13.

The Stags earned the right to play for the championship with their 2-1 win over Rider University on Thursday afternoon, scoring a pair of first-quarter goals from Konni Hofmann and Catalina Ness. Wagner advanced to the final with a 2-1 overtime win over fourth-seeded LIU, tying the game in the second quarter before posting the deciding goal in the second overtime. 

Top-seeded Wagner has a potent offense that averages 2.41 goals per game, scoring four or more goals five times in the regular season. Floortje Leunisse enjoyed a solid regular season with nine goals and seven assists for 25 points, slightly higher than Cami Valor (10 goals, 3 assists, 23 points) and Charlotte Muller (8 goals, 6 assists, 22 points). Saar van Dalen handled the goalkeeping duties and put up a 1.43 goals against average and a .762 save percentage.

Fairfield averages 2.39 goals per game with a group of upperclassmen providing most of those scores. Konni Hofmann paces the offense with 19 points off seven goals and five assists. Rylee LaLoup also has six goals to comprise her 12 points. Pilar Mengotti posted five goals during the regular season, all game winners, while Alice Pifferi leads the squad with 10 assists in her 18 appearances. Defensively, Payton Rahn and Emily Streib have handled the goalkeeping duties with Streib appearing in 13 matches and Rahn garnering minutes in seven games. Streib owns a 2.05 goals against average with a .696 save percentage while Rahn has a 1.09 goals against average with a .783 save percentage.