FAIRFIELD, Conn. – The Fairfield University men's soccer team begins its 2026 campaign with a pair of road games, beginning with the season opener at Marshall University on Thursday night. Game time is slated for 7 pm. The Stags will open the season on the road for the third straight season, traveling to Monmouth University in 2024 and Army West Point last season.

The team finished fourth in The Metro Conference Preseason Coaches' Poll, garnering one first-place selection in the voting. In addition, sophomores Sean Albritton and Alex Vaz both earned Preseason All-Metro Conference honors. The Metro Conference was rebranded from the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference this summer.

Head Coach Krystian Witkowski begins his third season at the helm, leading his team to the conference semifinal match in last year's MAAC tournament. Under his guidance, Fairfield finished the 2025 regular season with an eight-match unbeaten streak (4-0-4) and extended the run to nine matches with a win over Niagara University in the MAAC tournament quarterfinals.

The unbeaten streak started with a 5-1 win over 17^th-ranked Marist University on October 1, the program's third match against a nationally-ranked opponent since Witkowski's arrival. The Stags played #24 UConn to a scoreless draw on the road in 2024, and dropped a 4-2 decision to ninth-ranked University of Vermont last season.

Fairfield finished the 2025 campaign with an 8-5-5 overall record, the most wins in a season since the 2022 squad posted an 8-10-1 record. The Stags saw a resurgence in their attack a year ago, scoring 33 goals over their 18 matches which ranked second in the conference for total goals. The 33 goals also represented the most by a Fairfield team since the 2005 season when that edition posted 39 goals in 20 games.

The offense saw 10 different student-athletes find the back of the net last year with seven of those players returning for the 2026 campaign. Three freshmen accounted for 18 of the team's goals last season, namely Sean Albritton, Alex Vaz, and Pipeloore Olanrewaju.

Albritton, an All-MAAC second team player, paced Fairfield's attack with nine goals including four game winners through his 14 appearances. Vaz garnered All-MAAC first team accolades after netting five goals in 12 matches played. And, Olanrewaju, another All-MAAC second team player, added four more goals to the total and finished with nine points.

Cameron Gerber placed second among his teammates for total points with 15, but led all of his teammates with nine assists. He posted at least one assist in seven matches including all three assists in the team's 3-0 win over Monmouth University.

While the offense finished second in scoring among MAAC teams, the defensive unit tied for second in goals allowed among conference members with 21 through 18 games. The Stags yielded more than one goal in just four games a year ago including five clean sheets.

Evan Chomow, a second-team All-MAAC selection, saw most of the minutes in the Fairfield goal. In his inaugural season with the program, the goalkeeper posted a 1.22 goals against average with 75 saves and a .806 save percentage. Cole Dougherty, an All-MAAC defender, was part of that stingy defensive effort as he appeared in all 18 games from the back line.

Marshall enters the season opener as the number 17 ranked team in the United Soccer Coaches preseason national poll. The Herd was selected second in the Sun Belt Coaches Poll after finishing the 2025 campaign with a 12-4-5 overall record. Carl Romberg returns to the pitch after tallying five goals and five assists a year ago, leading him to a spot on the Sun Belt Conference All-Preseason Team.

 Following its two-match road trip, Fairfield play three of its next four matches at home, beginning with Lehigh University on Tuesday, September 1. The Stags will also welcome the University of New Haven on September 12 before opening The Metro Conference schedule on at home with Siena University on September 19.