Fall ball and fall training have come to an end as the winter break approaches. Now the offseason is ramping up once the athletes return after their break, especially with the season opener approaching on Feb. 7.
The men’s lacrosse team welcomed in a large recruiting class this offseason with 18 new faces. This class is highlighted by nine three-star recruits according to insidelacrosse.com.
Fairfield went 12-3(5-2) last season, highlighted by a nine-game winning streak to start the season 9-0. But after a strong first half of the season, the Stags started to fade out, with all three of their losses coming in the last six games of the season.
This led to Fairfield losing to Drexel in their first game of the Colonial Athletic Association championship, 14-6, after beating them earlier in the season. Not letting this happen again has been one of the main focus points for the Stags this offseason.
“We saw that we peaked at the wrong time during the middle of the season so this offseason we’re talking about peaking during the playoffs so we’re getting in better shape by lifting more than we ever have and running a lot more,” graduate goalkeeper Owen Hirsch said.
The Stags are also changing the mindset of the team this year, communicating the slogan “touch the line,” which came naturally to the team. “We did the run test in the beginning of the year and a bunch of kids didn’t touch the line which kind of led into it,” Hirsch said.
This motto has been repeated throughout the fall and has been a theme for the lacrosse team to go the extra mile, whether in practice or in the classroom.
The team is more connected than they’ve ever been this year. “This year we’ve broken all barriers between class years and everyone is on the same level, which has really helped the team chemistry,” Hirsch said.
The goaltending unit is set to look very different this year with the arrival of new goaltending coach Matthew Nunes, who holds the record for saves in a single season at the University of Virginia. He was also the 2022 ACC Freshman of the Year and graduated in 2025 from UVA.
“We’ve been working on being more aggressive but we also need to be more consistent and explode towards the ball which we have been working on a lot this year,” Hirsch said. This has been new for the squad this year because of the arrival of new assistant coaches like Nunes.
This changed mindset and drills to work on the consistency and conditioning of the team is all for the end goal of winning the CAA Championship this season. Falling short last year after the results they got in the beginning of the season caused the players to really buy in for this season.
“We have a sense of urgency this year that we didn’t have last year after we were so good and fell short,” Hirsch said. The offseason is focused on changing the script this season and avoiding the shortcomings that occurred towards the end of last year.
Fairfield opens up their season on Feb.7 in Bethlehem, Penn. against Lehigh for an early morning game at 11 a.m.
