FAIRFIELD, Conn. -- The anticipation is over. The Fairfield University field hockey knows where they are headed and who they will play in the opening round of the 2025 NCAA Championship.

The Stags will open up play against Boston University on November 12 on the campus of second-seeded Princeton University. The winner of the Fairfield-Boston University match will advance to the first round of the tournament and meet up with the Tigers. The game time for Fairfield's opening round game is set for 2 pm.

"The team was excited about the opportunity to play in the NCAA tournament last year but it left them hungry for this year," Head Coach Laura Gebhart said. "So to be able to sit in this room again in 2025 and wait for the match up really had them excited. There has been a lot of anticipation coming into tonight so I think they are ready to go."

Fairfield and Boston University are no strangers to one another especially in the NCAA tournament. The two programs met in the 2015 and 2017 editions of the NCAA championship with both meetings coming on the BU campus. The Terriers picked up a 5-0 win in the 2015 meeting and followed up with a 6-1 victory in the 2017 tournament 

The Stags earned the right to play in this year's NCAA tournament by winning the NEC championship over the weekend. Fairfield posted a 2-0 win over Rider University in the semifinals and followed up with a 3-0 decision over Wagner College in the title game. With the two wins, Fairfield improved its overall record to 15-5, winning 13 of the their last 14 games. The Stags played three teams that made the national poll this year and two that made the tournament, namely Syracuse University, Brown University, and UConn.

The Terriers took the Patriot League title by eclipsing top-seeded American University by a 1-0 count followed by a 3-2 win over second-seeded Lafayette College. Boston University has won its last three games on the pitch, beginning with a 3-2 overtime win against Colgate in the regular-season finale. The team also had its share of nationally-ranked opponents on the 2025 slate, including UMass, Harvard University, and Boston College.