PRINCETON, N.J. – For the third time in as many postseason games, the Fairfield University field hockey back line locked down and the offense provided the necessary margin as the Stags advanced in the 2025 NCAA Field Hockey Championship with a 1-0 win over Boston University.

#20 Fairfield will take on host and second-seed and #3 nationally-ranked Princeton University on Friday in the second round of the NCAA Championship. The match is scheduled for a 12 pm start at Bedford Field.

"It's an awesome feeling to advance in an NCAA Championship," Head Coach Laura Gebhart said. "We talked about this being a fight so we had to battle even harder. To this team's credit, they worked through it and made it work."

The Stags continue to build on its scoreless minute streak which stands at 228 minutes dating back to the regular-season finale against Saint Francis, a 5-1 win over the Red Flash.

The opening minutes weighed more toward Boston University as the Terriers moved the ball on the Stags side of the pitch for the first three minutes. Fairfield began to get its bearings and started to move the ball forward and apply pressure at the midfield stripe, disrupting the Terriers' push forward.

Fairfield earned the first corner of the game which landed onto the stick of Pilar Mengotti but the senior's shot sailed wide left. The Stags earned their second corner with just over three minutes left in the quarter with Alice Pifferi standing over the ball.

Pifferi's insertion went to Mengotti who sent the ball over Noor Hellemans on the right side of the circle. She released the ball toward goal where Rylee LaLoup was able to redirect the ball into the right corner of the cage, putting the Stags in front.

"Corners are something we have been practicing time and again so it comes down to execution," Coach Gebhart said. "Noor knows how to find her tippers and Rylee knows how to be in the right place at the right time. I give so much credit to them for getting it done today."

The goal seemed to put BU back on task as the team began to move the ball into Fairfield territory. The Terriers were able to take three shots in the closing minutes, one of which required action from goalkeeper Payton Rahn.

In the second quarter, Alex Senior opened with a shot from center circle for Fairfield which prove to be the team's lone attempt in the period. BU rallied and managed five more shots over the remainder of the quarter with Rahn turning away three of those attempts before the quarter ended.

Fairfield found its footing in the third quarter on both ends of the pitch, limiting BU to just one shot through the 15 minutes which came five minutes into the period. The Stags nearly took a two-goal lead with under four minutes remaining when LaLoup tracked down a pass to the center of the circle but her shot tracked just over the crossbar.

In the final quarter, Fairfield's offense kept the ball inside the BU circle as often as possible, outshooting the Terriers by a 6-0 count over the final 15 minutes to preserve the win and the clean sheet.
The victory marks Fairfield's first NCAA Tournament win since the Stags defeated American University during the 2019 campaign. That year, Fairfield also advanced to play the number two seed in the NCAA Tournament, eventually falling to UConn by a 2-1 count in overtime.