FAIRFIELD, Conn. – It's been a long time coming but the Fairfield University field hockey team will begin its longest home stand of the season this weekend when it hosts Rider University on Sunday. The Stags will have to take to the road one more time though as they make a trip to Mercyhurst University on Friday afternoon.
To date, the Stags have had to travel for nine of its 13 games. Fortunately, Head Coach
Laura Gebhart has kept her team focused on the road trips, winning five of those nine games. As impressive as that is, Fairfield has won all of its home games so far with four more on the horizon.
In addition to kicking off the home stand, Sunday's 1 pm match up with Rider has also been designated Senior Day. The field hockey coaches and student-athletes will honor the senior class prior to the game.
The Stags have received quite a boost from the Class of 25 as the group has accounted for 30 of the team's 48 goals this season. The seniors are looking for their fourth double-digit win season and have already collected 47 victories over their four seasons. And more importantly, the team is in the midst of looking to earn its fourth straight bid to the NEC Championship.
Fairfield's offense has six student-athletes with five or more goals, paced by
Pilar Mengotti, Konni Hoffman,
Alex Senior, and
Camille Perlov who each have seven goals.
Rylee LaLoup and
Kaelyn Fogelson round out the top six with five goals each.
Alice Pifferi remains the team's top play maker with eight assists this season. And, senior
Autumn Bartush is just under the threshold with a personal-best three goals this year.
Fifth-year goalkeeper
Payton Rahn continues to hold down the position with her 1.44 goals against average and .702 save percentage over her 13 starts. She comes off an outstanding effort which saw her make a season-best nine saves against Vermont, the fourth time she has collected five or more assists this season.
Mercyhurst comes off a pair of setbacks last weekend that saw the team fall to Stonehill College by a 1-0 count and non-conference foe La Salle University by a 4-0 score. The team will play its third home game in its last four dates.
Marina Evert paces the team's offense with two goals and two assists for six points, while Lola Williams ranks second among her teammates with a goal and an assist for three points. The goalkeeping duties have been divided up between three student-athletes with Louise Pert handling a majority of the minutes. She owns .733 save percentage off 88 stops over her seven starts.
Rider brings a 6-6 overall record and a 3-2 NEC record into Friday's home match with LIU. The Broncs last two wins have come in overtime, edging La Salle by a 4-3 score and Georgetown in the same fashion.
Valeria Perales leads the team in scoring with eight goals and two assists for 18 points, followed by Anna Finn and Semra Said who both have five goals and three assists for 13 points. Jade Regnart holds down the goalkeeping job, registering a .758 save percentage with 91 saves and a 2.35 save percentage.
