FAIRFIELD, Conn. – The three-time reigning MAAC Champion Fairfield University Women's Basketball team drew an 11-seed and will face the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in Columbus, Ohio to start their 2026 NCAA Tournament. The Stags, who gained the highest seed in school history, are fresh off their third-straight MAAC championship and the seventh in program history. The Stags will be making their eighth all-time appearance in the Big Dance and their fourth in the last five seasons.
 
"I'm excited," Head Coach Carly Thibault-DuDonis said. "We met the goal of continuing to move up in our seeding. I'm excited to get a chance to watch a little bit more of Notre Dame. Obviously, you watch casually throughout the year but I'm really excited to dive in and for the next matchup."
 
Fairfield will bring in the nation's top 3-point shooting squad on the national stage, leading all of Division I with 11.4 triples per game. Their 364 made 3-pointers are tied for the 14th most in NCAA Women's Basketball Division I history and the most since Caitlin Clark's 2024 Iowa squad.
 
The Stags are also ranked in the top-10 in the country with their .370 3-point shooting percentage while boasting five student-athletes with 40 or more made threes. Meghan Andersen leads the crew with 86 long-range shots, the second-most in Fairfield history.
 
Fairfield also brings in a stifling defensive unit that ranks 13th in the country allowing 55.8 points per game after holding 10 opponents to 50 points or fewer.
 
The Stags' selfless brand of basketball also has them among the national leaders as they rank in the top-20 in Division in both assists per game (17.3) and assist-to-turnover ratio (1.32).
 
Fairfield has netted a program-record 2,416 points this season, placing 35th in the nation at 75.5 points per outing. MAAC Player of the Year Kaety L'Amoreaux leads the team – and the conference – with 17.6 points per outing and her 563 total points are the fourth-most in a season in Fairfield history.
 
Coach Carly will be making her third appearance in the NCAA Tournament after amassing 102 wins over her four seasons with the Stags. Her .797 winning percentage is the seventh-highest among any active Division I head coach. She recently won her 100th career game in the Quarterfinals against Sacred Heart, becoming the fastest coach in conference history to reach that milestone.
 
Throughout the season, the Stags posted quality road wins over Villanova and Richmond while also picking a neutral court victory over South Florida. Three of Fairfield's four losses came against NCAA Tournament teams including ranked squads Iowa and North Carolina.
 
"The crowd here tonight was amazing," Coach Carly said. "It was so much fun to see so many familiar faces, season ticket holders, students, our band, cheer, and dance teams were amazing. The atmosphere in Mahoney Arena is electric and I'm glad we get to watch this together."
 
The 11-seed is the highest in school history and will pit them against Notre Dame for the second time ever and the first matchup since 1987. The Fighting Irish put up a 22-10 overall record and reached the semifinals in the ACC Tournament. They are led by Hannah Hidalgo who averaged 25.2 points per game and was a finalist for the Nancy Lieberman Point Guard of the Year award.
 
The Stags and Fighting Irish will play on Saturday at the Schottenstein Center in Columbus, Ohio, the home of the Ohio State Buckeyes. The winner of the contest will advance to the Round of 32 to face the winner of the Buckeyes and the Howard Bison.