Fairfield women put on pause, weekend games postponed
At this point, the Fairfield women’s basketball team has had more games postponed or canceled than they have played.
Fairfield once again has to pause team activities, and this weekend’s MAAC home series with Marist has been postponed.
The pause comes as a result of contact tracing protocols related to the recent positive COVID-19 test within Siena’s Tier I personnel. Fairfield played a series at Siena last weekend.
In addition, Fairfield’s nonconference game against Bryant, scheduled for Tuesday, has been canceled.
Fairfield coach Joe Frager was shoveling snow before heading to practice Thursday when he got the call telling him the team was paused.
“I got the call then went inside and got the team on a Zoom and informed them,” Frager said. “It is a sign of the times. There’s no doubt we had a good thing going after playing Siena and we were looking forward to this weekend against Marist. These emotional swings are difficult for our players, but our trainers and administration have done such an amazing job coordinating all of this and helping the players as much as possible.”
Frager added that while the players are disappointed, they are aware of what is happening in the world around them.
“Obviously we want to play, but we have a team with a strong social conscience and they know these things are for everyone’s best interest,” Frager said. “This is
not the first time for us. We have had a bunch of games moved or canceled. It’s been a lot for the players. It’s an emotional roller coaster and I worry about the mental health of the team.”
The series with Marist will be made up on the weekend of Feb. 26-27. The MAAC scheduled that week to make up any games postponed due to coronavirus circumstances.
Fairfield is 3-1 and 2-0 in the MAAC, but has not played since beating Siena on Dec. 12.
The Stags have now postponed five games (Sacred Heart, the Niagara series and Marist series) and had three games canceled (Sacred Heart, Seton Hall, Bryant) in December.
Originally, Fairfield was scheduled to play Niagara this weekend, but that was postponed to Jan. 15-16 and Marist was moved up from that weekend to this weekend.
Following these latest postponements, the Fairfield women’s team is not scheduled to play again until Jan. 1 and 2 on the road against Rider.
Players, coaches and staff associates with the Fairfield
women’s team were tested Friday and will have to get two negative tests once the team is unpaused the day after Christmas.
“We can’t get going until we all get two negative tests after Dec. 26,” Frager said. “Because they are in quarantine, the players can do things on their own to stay in shape. They can run on the treadmill for cardio, but the extent of what they can do is limited.”
Frager did add that while shutting down the team is detrimental, having it happen during final exams for the semester at least allows the players more time to focus on their academics.
Siena’s men’s team was also impacted, with its series at home against Canisius scheduled for this weekend being postponed.
The Siena programs have now twice faced lengthy pauses following positive COVID-19 test results among the program’s Tier 1 personnel. Siena’s Tier 1 personnel is scheduled to be released from quarantine Monday night.