2009 was the year that the Fairfield Stags Women's Soccer Team looked to repeat as champions. It was just last year that the Stags stood on top of the MAAC Soccer world. Then senior captain Ahna Johnson led them to that plateau. They shutout the Greyhounds of Loyola and easily won the trophy. Although they were losing one of the best players ever to pass through the University last season, the Stags understandably had an enormous amount of confidence entering the 2009 season. They looked at the pre-season polls and found themselves finishing first nearly six points ahead of last year's runner up. Nicole Cavallaro, a player that the other coaches voted as pre-season Player of the Year, was supposed to lead them to victory at Disney World in Orlando, Flordia. It was going to be a perfect place to win back to back championships, but, unfortunately, the field at the Magic Kingdom saw the end to their expected magical season.
The Stags earned their first win of the season in San Francisco California during the USF Odwalla Nike Classic beating the University of San Jose State. That win propelled them on a winning streak after losing to San Francisco starting the year 1-3. Over the next two weeks, Fairfield would go undefeated (5-0) with major help from their goal keeper Kelly Boudreau who helped her team outscore the opposition 14-2 over that stretch. The squad stood over .500 and won their first MAAC game. But then they seemed to hit a bump in the road. Their following losing streak would last as long as the previous winning streak. They would go 0-4-1 and more importantly drop to 1-1-1 in the MAAC. On October 9th they traveled to Saint Peters College to take on the Peahens. With only six MAAC games left until the playoffs, Fairfield was looking for a kick in the right direction. They soon found it. A shut out at St. Petes would lead to an impressive finish of the year finishing 4-2-3 in conference (although it was their worst MAAC record since 2004). They earned a three seed in the MAAC Tournament and were set to oppose the sixth seeded Niagara Purple Eagles, a team that the Stags had allowed one goal to in 3 years.
The Stags were defeated 2-1 over the Purple Eagles who used that win as motivation and found themselves playing for the championship. The loss dropped Fairfield out of the MAAC Tournament and killed their dream of repeating.
But this is a different season filled with new dreams. The Stags lose five seniors from their '09 roster. Only one of whom was named to an All-MAAC team. All three of the Fairfield members who were named to First team all- MAAC will be entering their junior season. (Alyssa Decker, Spenser Allaway, and Jasmin Corniel) It is easy to tell how young this Stags team is. Coach O'Brien is excited for the upcoming campaign, "This group of incoming freshmen, combined with our returning players, makes our 2010 roster the deepest of my Fairfield tenure. I am anxious to get the squad into camp this August and get the season under way.”
This may be the same team in terms of players. Fairfield has only lost four solid seniors due to graduation. But the 2010 women's soccer team is trying to rebound in this upcoming campaign. They should be preseason ranked number one for the third straight year. Same team or not the Stags are looking for different results.
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