Fairfield Men’s Soccer team goes up against Quinnipiac tonight at Lessing Field. They look to continue their six-game point streak with a result against a Quinnipiac team that is 3-4 (5-8-1) on the season. Fairfield is 4-1-3 (6-4-4) so far this season.
Fairfield got the luck of the draw by facing Quinnipiac at home, with their team clocking in with a 0-6-1 record while away this season. However, while Quinnipiac is at home, they have a 5-2 record. “We kinda look at them and Sacred Heart as our two rivalry games which fires the boys up,” senior midfielder William Pierce said.
The Bobcats have had contributions from the goal and assist leader, sophomore midfielder Sivert Ryssdalsnes from Asker, Norway, with six goals. Also, their goalkeeper is graduate Matthew Pisani, who has a .700 save percentage.
The history between Fairfield and Quinnipiac is 8-3-4 in favor of Quinnipiac, although Fairfield has won the last two matches when played at Lessing Field.
Fairfield is second right now in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference with four points behind first-place Sacred Heart and tied in points with Siena, who’s in third. They won’t be able to take their foot off the gas yet because only five points separate second and seventh place. “This is the best spot I’ve ever been as a player,” Pierce said about Fairfield’s position in the MAAC.
Sacred Heart has only played seven games compared to the nine Fairfield has played, which makes it very hard for anyone to catch up to them. Even though Fairfield plays Sacred Heart for the last game of the season, Sacred Heart plays fourth-place Iona and last-place Rider before their game against Fairfield.
In order for Fairfield to secure the second seed, they have to match the number of points that Siena gets for the rest of the season. Even though Siena beat Fairfield 1-0 earlier in the season, the Stags have a better overall record than Siena.
Siena has two more games this season with games against sixth-place Marist, which, even though hasn’t met expectations this season, was ranked 15th nationally earlier in the season. Then they finish the season with 12th-place Saint Peter’s.
There’s a good chance that Fairfield makes the playoffs. There’s still a lot more that has to be decided, and if they want to be the second seed in the MAAC, they will have to be efficient in these next two games.
This past week, Fairfield hosted Mount St. Mary’s at Lessing Field and dominated with a 2-0 win. With Goals scored by Pierce, locking in his second of the season, and first-year Pipeloore Olanrewaju also scoring his fourth of the season, with Pierce assisting.
Senior goalkeeper Viktor Nikolov made his third start of the season securing his second clean sheet. Nikolov has only allowed one goal in his three starts making nine saves in those games. These performances earned him MAAC Defensive Player of the Week. “[This] is incredible to see, especially since he didn’t get the nod in the first part of the season. For him to be able to keep his mentality, it’s very cool to see,” Pierce commented.
First-years Sean Albritton and Alex Vaz are the leading goal scorers on the team both with five goals, while the assist leader on the team is junior Cameron Gerber with seven.
