Nov. 4, 2006
FAIRFIELD, Conn. -- It all comes down to one game. The Fairfield University won 13 games this season, owned a national ranking for four weeks, and captured the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) regular-season title. Head Coach Carl Rees and his lads would like to add one more accolade to the list - the 2006 MAAC tournament title. Fairfield will look to accomplish just that when it hosts Saint Peter's College in the MAAC tournament championship game on November 5 at 11 am at Lessing Field. The game will be televised live on ESPNU.
Fairfield earned the right to play for the MAAC tournament title with a 3-0 win over Loyola College in the MAAC semi-final game last Thursday night. Saint Peter's defeated Niagara University by the same score in the other semi-final, advancing with the victory. Fairfield won the regular-season match up with Saint Peter's, a 2-1 overtime win in Jersey City. Freshman Christian Uy tallied one of his four game-winning goals this season in the Saint Peter's game.
The Stags defense has been playing extremely well over the last seven games. Since dropping a 2-1 double overtime decision to Harvard, Fairfield has won five of its last seven games. The team's defensive unit has been primarily responsible for the team's late-season run. In those seven games, Fairfield has yielded only three goals and posted four shutouts. In fact, the Stags enter the championship with back-to-back shutouts, the first time that they have achieved that this season. By allowing less than one goal per game, Fairfield has the best defense in the conference.
But, one cannot forget about the offense's contribution to the team's success this year. Senior Alex Cunliffe is at the top of that list with his team-leading eight goals and 19 points. Junior Sam Bailey, who scored a pair of goals in the semi-final win over Loyola, has six goals this season with five of those being game winners. And as mentioned earlier, Christian Uy has emerged as a legitimate scoring threat for the Stags.
The winner of the MAAC tournament will receive an automatic berth to the NCAA tournament. The pairings for the NCAA tournament will be announced during the selection show on Monday evening.
