FAIRFIELD, Conn. – The top-seeded Fairfield University Women's Soccer team fell to the fourth-seeded Sacred Heart Pioneers by a 1-0 final score, suffering their first home loss in over two calendar years and eliminating the squad from the MAAC Semifinals. Sacred Heart's Morgan Bovardi provided the game-winner in the 85th minute for the Pioneers' upset win.
"Credit to Sacred Heart tonight, they delivered when they needed to," Head Coach
David Barrett said. "I thought we lost the game in the first half. I'm proud of the girls for their fight tonight. We didn't play to our identity tonight and unfortunately picked the wrong night to do that. Soccer is tough sometimes but certainly proud for what we accomplished this season."
After a slow start, the Stags picked up their pace in the second half firing 16 shots in the period compared to just five for the Pioneers.
Fairfield also picked up their best chances in the stanza, forcing six saves by Sacred Heart's goalkeeper Kyran Thievon. The MAAC Golden Boot winner
Maddy Theriault forced the best stop by the keeper with a diving stop on a line drive attempt in the 82nd minute.
Payton Zaun,
Ashlyn Walsh,
Sam Kersey, and
Ashley McMahon all had shots on net in the second half, with Theivon up to the task.
After Theriault's shot, the Pioneers were able to counter by getting numbers up the field which resulted in Shea Kelleher finding Bovardi on a cross and the All-MAAC First Teamer finishing in the bottom left corner.
Fairfield started the match drawing two corner kicks in the first minute but would only get two more in the final 89 minutes.
The Stags tallied 15 wins during the regular season and an unbeaten 10-0-2 mark in the conference, one of only four Fairfield teams to achieve that feat in the regular season. The 15 victories tied for the second-most in the nation and Fairfield placed third in Division I in winning percentage.
With all that success, the Stags garnered a program-record 10 All-MAAC selections with four major award winners.
Fairfield also built up their home unbeaten streak to 25-straight matches which was tied for the third-longest in the country.
