Meghan Andersen was never supposed to be a Stag.
The two time all-conference first teamer and reigning MAAC Championship MVP was originally committed to play her college basketball at Fordham, a school closer to her hometown of Wantagh, N.Y., and the alma mater of her mother. Andersen chose the Rams after longtime Fairfield head coach Joe Frager, who had tried to recruit her to Stag Country, announced his impending retirement.
“I was thinking of going on an official visit, but [Frager] ended up retiring,” Andersen said. “Then I kind of put my focus into Fordham because I absolutely loved the coaching staff and the girls there, and I committed.”
But things changed unexpectedly in the summer of 2022 leading up to Andersen’s senior year, as Fordham head coach Stephanie Gaitley announced her departure from the university in late June. The news left Andersen scrambling, until newly hired Fairfield head coach Carly Thibault-DuDonis caught wind.
“I saw Meg play when I first took the job at Fairfield,” Thibault-DuDonis said. “I asked her coach, ‘who is this kid?’ And he said she was committed to Fordham but also really liked Fairfield prior to us getting here. So when the coaching change happened he called us to see if we’d be interested, and we said heck yeah.”
Soon enough, Andersen was on campus at Fairfield, touring with the assistant coaches and talking to Thibault-DuDonis on FaceTime while she was still trying to sell her old house back in Minnesota. Two days later, Andersen committed.
It’s a partnership that has helped change the trajectory of Fairfield women’s basketball from the moment it began. In the two years since Andersen’s arrival, the Stags have posted a 59-7 overall record that includes back-to-back conference championships and NCAA Tournament bids.
Andersen’s first-year campaign saw her break the program rookie scoring record (497 points), tie for second all-time in conference history with 11 Rookie of the Week awards, be named to the All-MAAC First Team and become the first rookie ever to be a semifinalist for the Becky Hammon Mid-Major Player of the Year award.
Even to Andersen herself, it was an unprecedented level of immediate success.
“Not at all, actually,” she said about whether or not she anticipated those accolades. “I think I’m very hard on myself, and I never really expect anything like that. The way I handled [the spotlight] was through the coaching staff and the team; they’re the ones who help you get those awards. Just having them to lean on for support has been huge for my journey.”
The attention and expectations haven’t slowed down. As Andersen enters her junior season, she carries the title of unanimous Preseason Conference Player of the Year. She also finds herself back on the watchlist for the Becky Hammon Award, and was recently just one of two mid-major players to earn a spot on the Katrina McClain Power Forward of the Year Preseason Top 20.
The continually elevating honors are reflective of the growth that’s been shown by an already great player, something that hasn’t gone unnoticed by those around her.
“She’s someone that loves being in the gym,” Thibault-DuDonis said of Andersen. “She’s gonna work, and she’s gonna work until she gets it right. I think her mental toughness has grown so much, her ability to stay steady even if she misses a couple shots or makes a couple mistakes has developed so much, so she’s been able to keep adding to her game because she doesn’t get discouraged if it’s not perfect right away.”
Making those strides in areas that may not directly involve basketball is a big point of emphasis for Andersen, who cites one of her main goals for the season as developing as a leader for her team. That physical and mental balancing act holds extra importance for a player that, despite her accomplishments, has struggled with self-belief in the past.
“I didn’t have much confidence coming here. I think it’s very scary, that transition,” Andersen said. “It’s been challenging battling with those pressures and expectations, and kind of trying to flip my mindset and not think of them as that. But I’ve grown so much, and I’ve learned who I am on and off the court and how to blend the two together.”
She’s been bolstered in that effort by her teammates. Though Andersen believes strongly in the sense of community and trust that permeates through the entire team, she is especially close with classmates Kaety L’Amoreaux, Casey Prior and Jill Huerter, whom she lives with and has grown through the program alongside.
“It feels surreal knowing that we’re upperclassmen now,” Andersen said. “It’s so weird thinking back to coming into freshman year and not really knowing any of them, but now racking up all the different experiences and moments we’ve had on and off the court, it’s honestly been so special and I wouldn’t wish to be able to do this with anyone else.”
That attachment to her teammates, and the program at large, sets Andersen apart in a time of dampened loyalty in college athletics. As a comparatively small mid-major conference, the MAAC is typically a rich staging ground for its best players to earn themselves offers in the transfer portal from bigger schools.
Among the five players from last year’s All-MAAC First Team, only Andersen returns to the conference for another season, with one player graduating and the other three transferring out. Given her historic track record in just two years of play, it’s almost a certainty that Andersen has caught the eye of programs higher up in the national hierarchy. But if you ask her, leaving has never been on the table.
“I haven’t really even put any thought into it,” Andersen said. “I think the culture here, the type of competitiveness that we have, the family aspect, they’re all things that I look for in a school. To me, it doesn’t matter what level it is. Yeah, we’re mid-major, but I think we have the opportunity and the platform to be bigger than that.”
The pursuit of that development is one of the biggest motivators for Andersen. Of course, the on-court goals remain: winning the MAAC for a third straight year, earning the title of conference Defensive Player of the Year, helping to bring the program its first ever NCAA Tournament win. But when it comes to legacy, her sights are set higher than banners hanging in the rafters of Mahoney Arena.
“I want to be remembered as someone who made an impact on women’s sports, on basketball here at Fairfield,” Andersen said. “Not so much the skills that I have, but more so how I’ve impacted the people here and how I’ve impacted the sport. I’m realizing more now the influence that I could have on both my team and the community, and little girls that are coming to our games. Ultimately, my goal is to be a part of a program that brings light to those things, and I think there’s a very unique opportunity to do that here.”
So yes, Meghan Andersen was never supposed to be a Stag. But now, after two years of history and with more to come, she can’t imagine being anywhere else.
Andersen and the Stags kick off their season tonight on the road against Villanova. Opening tip is set for 7:00 p.m., and fans can catch the game on ESPN+.
