FAIRFIELD, Conn. – The Fairfield University men's soccer team stays close to home for its 2025 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) semifinal match on Thursday night, making the short trip to top-seeded Sacred Heart University for a 6 pm start.
The fourth-seeded Stags defeated fifth-seeded Niagara University on Sunday afternoon to advance one bracket in the championship, courtesy of goals from
Sean Albritton,
William Pierce, and
Illia Tyrkus. The offensive outburst was the most goals for the Stags since they beat nationally-ranked Marist University by a 5-1 count on October 1.
Albritton, who received the final MAAC Offensive and Rookie of the Week awards last Friday, sits atop the team statistics with eight goals and 16 points, numbers which place him second overall in the MAAC for goal scored and third in points per game (1.23 pg).
Cameron Gerber, who leads the conference with eight assists, is next in line with 12 points which includes four goals.
Goalkeeper
Evan Chomow enjoyed another solid effort with six saves, his highest total since an eight-save effort in a 1-1 draw with Iona. He faced seven shots in the second half and posted three saves to keep the Stags in front. Chomow is the top rated MAAC goalkeeper in terms of save percentage, sporting an .831 mark based on his 69 saves. His 1.02 goals against average is third best among MAAC keepers.
Sacred Heart will play its first MAAC Championship match this year, earning a bye to the semifinals based on its regular-season championship. The Pioneers finished the MAAC campaign unbeaten with a 7-0-3 record with the Stags being one of those three draws. Fairfield earned the 2-2 tie in the regular-season finale with both goals coming from Albritton.
David Garcia Gallego, an All-MAAC first teamer, paces the front line for SHU with five goals and four assists for 14 points. David Istambouli, an All-MAAC second teamer, is just shy of that mark with five goals and three assists for 13 points.
The Pioneers back line features two MAAC major award winners, namely Defender of the Year Daniel Losfabios and Goalkeeper of the Year Luca Marinelli. Marinelli leads the MAAC in goal against average, owning a 0.51 mark, and is second in save percentage at .788.
The winner of this semifinal match will play the winner of the other semifinal match between third-seeded Iona University and second-seeded Siena College. The two winners will meet at the highest remaining seed on Sunday with the game time to be determined. The winner of the MAAC Championship receives an automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament.
