Women’s Soccer Stays Alive, Boudreau makes history

The women's soccer team was 20 minutes from their season being in serious jeopardy, but they kept their playoff hopes alive on Sunday in a must win game over the Niagara Purple Eagles. It was a day to remember for a number of exciting reasons, one even historic, and an afternoon that at least three players will never forget. The class of 2010 bid farewell to the home crowd on the Fairfield University campus. They are two of the most accomplished players in the history of the program and both showed their promise early on as they captured
the MAAC Rookie of the Year award in back-to- back seasons. 148 starts, 135 points , 43 goals, and 49 assists later these two players have inked their names in a number of records, team captains Nicole Cavallaro and Casey Frobey competed in their last game on Lessing Field. "I love playing here and there's not many memories I don't like so it's only happy times," said Casey Frobey. She ranks fifth in the school's history with points (74) and goals (29). It's the last time they will compete on the lowcut grass on Lessing Field, the last time they will stare up at the dark red clock ticking down on the scoreboard above, but fortunately for the Stags it ended up being the last time they could celebrate a win on campus. "It was extremely sad," said Nicole Cavallaro. The New York native will graduate second in Fairfield history with assists (33).

But after the players and their parents were presented their flowers, the flashes of the cameras faded, and the seniors jogged out for the last time wearing their cardinal red uniforms it was a junior who earned her own celebration. Goalkeeper Kelly Boudreau broke Anne Lyons' shutout record set a decade ago. The Farmington, Connecticut native secured her record setting 25^th clean sheet but wouldn't take all the credit, "I wouldn't be here without my team especially my back four, Alyssa Decker does not get enough credit, she's been here since I've come here, so it's all her, it's all the back four it's not an individual award it's more a team award," she said. Boudreau has helped the team from the day she arrived. She's a two time All-MAAC Second team representative and is also tops in the program history in goals against average. "To do it in her junior year, she's still got her senior year, she's going to pad that record for a long time," said Jim O'Brien. The sixth year head coach is a fellow goalkeeper from his playing days and he knows a great talent, "I think she's definitely one of the tops that we ever had and Fairfield has been known to have good quality goalkeepers over the years," he said. Boudreau reached double digits in shutouts for the season but none were more important than number ten.

The Stags entered the game in sixth place in the MAAC staring up at a 4 way tie for third with only the top four teams advancing to the conference tournament. With the added three points, Fairfield has moved into sole possession of third place. With a loss the team would have been in playoff crisis, but they refused to have the same team potentially end their season two years in a row. Last year the third seeded Stags were upset by the Purple Eagles in the First Round of the Tournament down in Disney. "We wanted to get a little payback," coach O'Brien said. The players came pumped for the rematch, "we wanted to beat them and show them we were actually the better team," Frobey said.

The Stags will play two more games on the road to close out the regular season. "We're peaking offensively at the right time," Jim O'Brien said. If Fairfield wins both games they will automatically clinch a playoff spot. Their vital road trip will begin when they will travel to Siena on Friday. The Saints were the last undefeated untied Division one school in the nation and were once ranked as #25 in the nation. However, the last time they played on that field up in Albany they won the MAAC title. After two days, the Stags will travel up to Poughkeepsie to take on the current number one seed Marist. The Red Foxes are currently 6-1 in the conference but the players actually enjoy playing on the road, "Personally, I get more pumped up for road games than I do home games, I don't know why," Boudreau said.

After a disappointing loss to Canisius the Stags faced a must win game and they were up for the challenge. With all the storylines. The playoff chase, the rivalry with Niagara, the graduation of one of the most successful senior class, and Boudreau's new school record, Frobey hopes this can propel the team, "I think the emotion that the team showed when we scored the goal and at the end of the game is something that we can remember for next week and we'll just remember that feeling and want to play for that feeling."

400 minutes- No goals

With the scoreless tie against the Iona Gaels to start the MAAC portion of their schedule, the Fairfield Women's Soccer team has not scored a goal in now 400 minutes. That's 5 hours! Their last goal came against Stony Brook, on September 16th.

I say it after every game. The team has the talent. Every place you look, they have quality forwards who are expected to be great. Frobey, Corniel, Cavalarro, and Allaway are some of the best talents in the MAAC. As a side note the last two goal that the team scored came off the foot of freshmen Jac Ley.

The team is back in action on Tuesday when they take on Harvard at Lessing Field. Fairfield has not scored on its home field in over 300 minutes.

Princeton 2 Fairfield 0

The Fairfield Stags women's soccer team (4-5-1) were shut out again this time at the hands of the Princeton Tigers (5-3). Click for a complete recap and boxscore.

The Least You Should Know:
-Kelly Boudreau had 11 saves in the contest 9 of those came in the first half. The Stags were out shot 10-1 in the first half and 17-4 in the game.

-With this shut out the Stags haven't scored a goal in 290 minutes! They have not touched net in nearly 2 weeks.

-The Stags offensive stars including preseason player of the year Jasmin Corniel, 2009 preseason player of the year Nicole Cavallaro, and Casey Frobey each have only one goal on the season.

I'm really worried about the Stags offense this season. After their loss to army their coach pointed out that they do not play an entire game and they are falling out early. The Stags enter MAAC play reeling on the offensive side. This is Princeton and the Stags have never beat Princeton in their program history but I am sure that coach O'Brien was not happy with the team being out shot 10-1 in the first half. Maybe this promising offense needs to get into conference play to be successful but their forwards are STACKED.

Up Next:
The Stags will host Harvard on Tuesday October 5th at 6 PM. The Stags have not scored a goal in over 300 minutes at Lessing Field. Fairfield has also never beaten Harvard with a 0-4-2 career record against the Crimson.

Fairfield Needs a Score

Once again, the Fairfield side of the scoreboard on Lessing Field was lit up by a faint yellow 0. The Fairfield Stag's women's soccer team was shutout for the third time in their last four games. This time they were the victims of the defense of the Black Knights of Army. The squad has been struggling with the home-field advantage and have not scored a goal on campus in over 300 minutes, that's since August 27^{th, four} home games ago. "We have six attacking personality type of players on the field at any one time we definitely should be doing more in the way of sustaining attack," head coach Jim O'Brien said after the loss. The sixth year head coach has seen glimpses of the potential that highlights this team's offensive attack but not throughout the whole game. "We're not putting together long periods of good play," he said. The stats prove it. Fairfield is 0-4 when falling behind but are undefeated when scoring the first goal of the game.

This slumping group does have the talent. When the offense is clicking, they have the talent to be one of the best in the league. The attack of the team is arguably the most experienced group on the field. The forwards are led by the MAAC Preseason Player of the Year, Jasmin Corniel who was also the team's leading scorer just a year ago. The junior was named to the NSCAA All-Northeast Regional team in 2009 which shows the promise that she possesses.

Red shirted senior Casey Frobey brings the experience that any squad vitally needs. The team captain is one of the most successful attackers in program history ranking sixth in points with 72 and career goals with 28.

Also, the Stags welcomed Spenser Allaway back into the lineup on Thursday at Stony Brook. It was her first game since last year and she returned with a bang scoring the game winning goal as the Stags got the road win 3-0 against the Sea Wolves. "She is definitely one of our top players and it's very nice to have her back," O'Brien said. The junior was named to the All-MAAC First team in her sophomore season and will look to increase the Stags offense.

In order for the Stags to tally up the goals they are going to need to have those "long periods of good play" O'Brien mentioned. "We're wasting time," the coach emphasized. The upcoming road will not be as tough as their previous opponents. 2 of their last three shutouts came against Boston College and Army. The Eagles were ranked fifth in the country at that time and the Black Knights have only allowed three goals this season. Two of those were allowed in their previous game versus Brown. The Stags will try to flush away their Lessing Field scoreless drought against Hartford. Will the tides turn for the 4-4 Stags? Watch as they battle the Hawks on Thursday night at 7PM.