FAIRFIELD, Conn. – The Fairfield University Women's Soccer team netted a season-high six goals from six different student-athletes to defeat the Iona Gaels 6-1 and stay unbeaten in Metro Conference play. Aside from the six goal scorers, the Stags had eight players tally a point led by
Payton Zaun and
Kelly O'Connor who both netted a goal and dished out an assist.
Amelie Stewart,
Brooke Kennedy,
Ella Pisani, and
Mary Grusser also recorded goals while
Hanah Silva and
Taylor deVos dished out the helpers in the victory.
"I thought our performance was solid tonight," Head Coach
David Barrett said. "Overall, we were a little less aggressive than I would have liked going into the final third in the first half. We made a couple of adjustments to address that and scored some goals from a variety of people tonight which was great. Certainly there are some things to work on but I'm happy to get the three points."
Fairfield needed 33 minutes for their first score as Stewart opened up the scoring with a score created on a pass from O'Connor and put the Stags up 1-0. Kennedy headed in a corner kick on a service from Silva in the 41st minute to give the Stags a 2-0 lead at halftime.
The Stags would score their final four goals over a 25-minute span in the second half starting with O'Connor finishing off a short pass from Zaun in the 53rd minute.
Fairfield would then have a flurry of goals with Zaun scoring in the 70th minute, Pisani netting her team-leading sixth goal in the 77th and Grusser scoring her first collegiate goal with an unassisted tally in the 78th.
The only goal the Stags conceded came in the final minute to complete the 6-1 final score.
Fairfield out-shot Iona 28-5 including 16 in the second half. Fairfield was accurate and efficient in their chances in the final stanza with nine of those attempts on frame.
Fairfield remains the lone unbeaten team in Metro play with their 4-0 record which includes a 19-match unbeaten streak in the regular season. Fairfield has now taken at least a point in 32 of their last 33 regular season matches in the conference.
The Stags will look to keep that momentum going with a weekend matchup at Mount St. Mary's on Saturday at noon.
