The men’s soccer team continues conference play against Mount Saint Mary’s on Saturday night at 7:00 p.m. at Lessing Field. Fairfield played two games last week which resulted in a 1-1 draw against Merrimack and a 1-0 win against Manhattan. Fairfield comes into this week at a record of 5-4-4 (3-1-3).
Mount Saint Mary’s has begun their season at a record of 2-6-5 (2-3-1) with key results against teams like Manhattan who they lost to 3-0 earlier in October. The all-time record for Fairfield against Mount Saint Mary’s is 1-1.
The player to look out for Mount Saint Mary’s is goal scoring leader senior Graham Dougald who has four on the season. Also the assist leader is sophomore Luciano Schiaffini with two on the season.
Also senior goalkeeper Julian Marcos has started all 13 games for Mount Saint Mary’s bringing with him a save percentage of .722% with two shutouts on the season already.
Mount Saint Mary’s is eighth in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference only three points behind Niagara for fifth. So this won’t be an easy fixture for Fairfield also being a crucial result Fairfield needs to get in order to keep their position in the standings.
Fairfield were at Lessing Field last week against Merrimack continuing their four game point streak with a draw.
One of the headlines for this match was senior goalkeeper Viktor Nikolov making his first start of the season. This was because first-year Evan Chomow has been out with a short term quad injury. Nikolov showed no sign of rust, only allowing one goal in two matches. Nikolov started most of the games last season for Fairfield posting a .686 save percentage with three shutouts.
The goal for Fairfield was scored by first-year Pipeloreoluwa Olanrewaju in the 47th minute which was his third goal of the season. This was set up by senior Kaea Rangihaeata who dribbled past the goalkeeper and tried making a play on the ball, passing it to Olanrewaju in the front of the net for a nice tap in goal.
The Stags then let up a goal in the 49th minute when a defensive mistake created a chance for Merrimack sophomore Noah Santos who received the ball right in front of the net with no one around him for a clear shot at the net.
This wasn’t the last chance for Fairfield, with them rebounding right away and ending the second half with 10 shots. The Stags couldn’t capitalize on their chances; they had many opportunities and looked like the better team in the second half.
Next, the Stags played Manhattan on Saturday night in Riverdale, NY. Fairfield was able to win 1-0 with a goal scored by first-year Sean Albritton late in the second half in the 84th minute which made it his fifth of the season assisted by junior Audun Engen Vik for his second assist of the season.
Vik stepped up for Fairfield in the Manhattan game with head coach Krystian Witkowski saying, “Audun had a phenomenal game against Manhattan. He came in and he changed the game for us.”
This made it the fifth game in the row where Fairfield picked up points. On a similar note, Manhattan got more shots off in the first half with Fairfield dominating in the second half with the final total being 16-12 in favor of Fairfield.
Nikolov made his second start of the season for the Stags recording a clean sheet and making four saves in the game. Also after Manhattan sophomore William Fagerberg picked up a red card in the 68th minute this opened up the field for the Stags.
The MAAC standings are extremely tight for this part of the season especially with only six points separating teams in third place and 12th place. Fairfield is currently third with only three points behind Siena for second. Witkowski commented, “Take it one step at a time, three games left for us. Focused on one game at a time.” Fairfield needs to get points to avoid falling further down in the standings in such a competitive conference.