FAIRFIELD, Conn. – The Fairfield University men's soccer team will make a brief trip south for a match against Rider University on Saturday afternoon. The Stags and the Broncs will meet at 4 pm on Ben Cohen Field.

Fairfield put together two strong efforts last week to move into the top four of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) standings. The Stags opened the week with a 5-1 road win over nationally-ranked Marist University before playing Iona University to a 1-1 draw at home. The results place the team into a tie for third in the standings along with Iona.

 Two Fairfield student-athletes were recognized for their role in the 1-0-1 week, namely freshman Alex Vaz and freshman Evan Chomow. Vaz scored a pair of goals in the Marist win including the deciding goal while Chomow averaged 7.5 saves per match over the two dates.

With his play last week, Vaz took over the team lead for both goals scored (5) and points (10). Chomow remains the MAAC leader in save percentage with his .806 mark, while his 1.21 goals against average remains the conference standard this season. Vaz also has his place among the MAAC offensive leaders, holding the second slot on the goals scored list.

Classmate Sean Albritton is also enjoying a fine start to his collegiate career with half of his goals representing game winners. The freshman has four goals on the season including the deciding goal against Army West Point and Monmouth University. He leads the MAAC in game winning goals per game with a .333 percentage (2 goals in six appearances). Newcomer Cameron Gerber also has made an impact in the conference as his six assists is the best among the 13-team field and 11^th best in Division I (0.60 per game).

Rider has two points in the MAAC standings to date, gaining a point with consecutive draws with Siena College (3-3 score) and Manhattan University (1-1 score). Patryk Rojek tallied his first goal of the season in the Manhattan match while three different Broncs found the back of the net against Siena. Lovro Kostanjsek was one of the three goal scorers which raised his season totals to a team-best three goals and two assists for eight points.

Three different Rider goalkeepers have seen action this season with Yoav Arikha seeing the most minutes at the position. He has five starts to his credit which led to 450 minutes of work, sporting a 1.40 goals against average with a .696 save percentage off 16 stops.

Following the Rider match, the Fairfield University men's soccer team will return to Lessing Field for a match up with Merrimack College on Wednesday, October 16 beginning at 7 pm.