FAIRFIELD, Conn. – It was a brief respite from life on the road, but the Fairfield University field hockey team certainly enjoyed being back on campus. The Stags picked up a pair of wins at University Field last weekend which evened up their record at 2-2. Now, Head Coach Laura Gebhart will take her squad back on the road for a run of five matches that includes the first three Northeast Conference dates.

Fairfield will start its run with a pair of Ivy League opponents this weekend, beginning with Friday's match up with Columbia University. Then, the Stags will head north for a game with Brown University on Sunday afternoon.

The Fairfield offense certainly found its rhythm last weekend, tallying 10 goals in the two home matches. What's more fascinating is the fact that eight different student-athletes combined for those 10 goals with Pilar Mengotti and Alex Senior being the only multi-goal scorers over the weekend. Mengotti, who leads the team in scoring with three goals and six points, posted both of her goals in the Villanova win while Senior registered one against the Wildcats and the other in the Lehigh game.

And with such a varied field of goal scorers, it only seems to follow that the Stags have an equally diverse set of playmakers. Six Fairfield players have at least one assist as Alice Pifferi paces the category with three assists. The defender led all Fairfield scorers last year with 10 assists.

Goalkeeper Payton Rahn secured her Northeast Conference (NEC) Defensive Player of the Week following her two-game effort last weekend. The fifth-year starter made six saves against Lehigh to earn her first shutout of the season. She owns a 2.25 goals against average with a .654 save percentage off 17 stops this year.

Columbia couldn't ask for a better start to its 2025 campaign, beating 18^th-ranked University at Albany by a 3-0 count and edging LIU at home by a 3-2 score. Friday's Fairfield game starts a Connecticut weekend for the Lions as the program will head to Quinnipiac University on Sunday.

Like Fairfield, Columbia has a group of five individuals who scored their six goals last weekend, led by Jacinta Solari Etcheberry who netted a pair of goals. Mckenzie Bloom is next in line with three points, recording a goal and an assist so far. Margot Houle handled the goalkeeping duties last weekend, checking into the Fairfield match with a 1.00 goals against average and an .800 save percentage courtesy of her eight stops.

Brown endured a tough opening weekend against two nationally-ranked opponents, dropping a pair of 3-2 decisions. The Bears started by falling in shootout against #14 UMass before coming up short against 11^th-ranked UConn.

Lucy Adams, Mia Karine Myklebust, Kate Siedem, and Kiersten Smith each tallied a goal on the opening weekend while goalkeeper Ellie Parker came away with 11 saves.

Following this weekend, the Stags will open conference play with a road match against Wagner College on September 19 for their only date of the week.