In a heavyweight brawl for the lead of the CAA, the men’s lacrosse team fell to Towson 14-9. Though the match was tied 7-7 near halftime, the Tigers completely halted the Stags’ offense by preventing any scores for 33 ½ minutes of game regulation. The fourteen goals by Towson mark the second-worst defensive performance of the season for Fairfield; it was also the largest margin of a loss. Towson is 6-0 in the CAA and has secured the right to host the conference tournament after defeating the formidable squad from Fairfield.
In the press conference, head coach of the Towson Tigers, Shawn Nadelen, said, “We knew coming into this game with how Fairfield was playing throughout the season, it was going to be a real battle, and we were going to have to earn it”. He also referred to Fairfield as
“a really strong” team, which they could meet again in the conference tournament.
With the loss, Fairfield has dropped to 11-2 overall, 4-2 in the conference, and 20th in the nation per Inside Lacrosse’s rankings. Head coach Andrew Baxter stated, “It was a pretty typical CAA game for the first half. And then they just did a good job of neutralizing our strengths in the second half and just wore us down,” He then admitted “It was an uncharacteristic day for us in terms of our execution, but I told the team that it was a good learning day and we’ll address the things that need to be addressed going forward.”
The final game of the regular season for Fairfield is against Monmouth University on April 26th at Rafferty Stadium. Monmouth has struggled thus far in the season, having a record of 2-4 in conference, but is coming off a monumental win over Delaware, which ended 12-11. Junior attackman Ty Caffarelli netted five goals in the game and was named the CAA Offensive Player of the week for his achievements.
Regardless of Saturday’s outcome, Fairfield will qualify for the CAA conference tournament due to Stony Brook’s 15-14 loss at Drexel last weekend. The tournament will be hosted at Towson’s Johnny Unitas Stadium and will feature the top 4 seeds of the conference. Preliminary rounds of the tournament will be played on May 1, while the championship will occur on Saturday, the 3rd, and if Towson or Fairfield emerge victorious, then their seasons might continue to the NCAAs. Twenty programs will qualify for the NCAA tournament, which makes both schools’ postseason chances plausible. If Fairfield were to qualify, then it would end a 20-year drought of NCAA berths, and the already historic season would be even more triumphant. The two other teams to obtain a spot in the playoffs are Drexel and Hofstra, who are extremely impressive and competent but also have a combined 0-3 record against Fairfield and Towson. Coincidentally, Hofstra plays Towson on Saturday at 4 PM, which will have no implications but will be a thrilling teaser for the competition that will ensue in the immediate days after.
The Stags are 7-0 at Rafferty Stadium and will look to continue this trend going into their final game. Currently, the weather is looking rather ambiguous for the matchup that is slated for Saturday at 12:00 PM, but the atmosphere will most likely remain as impactful as it has been.
As always, students can get their tickets on the Fairfield Athletics website for free.
