Gritty, resilient Stags eyeing first NCAA tournament win
Considering the way things have gone for the Fairfield field hockey program, it could be considered somewhat surprising that Wednesday’s NCAA Tournament game will be starting at 1 p.m. and not at 11 a.m.
The number 11 has certainly been magical. The Stags earned the honor of hosting the game against American University by winning a programrecord 11 consecutive games. Fairfield has played in 11 onegoal games and won every one of them, and the Northeast Conference champions have 11 players with at least three points this season, led by Danielle Profita and Luzi Persiehl.
That has set the stage for what the Fairfield players and coaches hope will be the program’s first NCAA Tournament win after dropping the openers in 2001 and 2017.
The NCAA Tournament appearance was fittingly enough secured with backtoback onegoal wins in the
NEC tournament. However, the foundation was created during a challenging nonconference regular season schedule, highlighted by the Stags rallying from a twogoal deficit to top fellow NCAA Tournament team Boston College in overtime.
“It is really the kids, they have amazing amounts of grit,” Fairfield coach Jackie Kane said. “That expression that they refuse to lose. A great example of that was our Rider regular season game when we scored [with 41 seconds left in the second half ] to tie the game.”
It is a group that started five sophomores, two freshmen in the NEC tournament title game. Emily Halderson is the only senior on the roster, but she has another season of eligibility. Yet, with all the youth, the Stags are 50 in overtime games in 2019.
“I think they all grew up together, they all learned how to win and what is so exciting is we have the same exact team back next year so they really rely on each other,” Kane said. “There is no hierarchy of we are the seniors, you are the freshmen and you have to do that, they are a cohesive group that has a real buy in with the program and with each other.”
It’s also a group with a collective team GPA of 3.53 that has wins over teams from the Atlantic Coast Conference and Big Ten but it was back to back victories over Columbia and Providence when Kane began to realize there was something special going on.
With an 182 record, a No. 24 national ranking and RPI of 26, the Stags get to play one more game at home after going 81 at University Field this season.
“It is terrific that we get to play on our field again,” Kane said. “It is great for our fans, our parents and the most important thing is that they are studentathletes, right? This gives them the opportunity to still go to school and play the game they love.”