Haililani Pokipala wins MAAC Offensive Player of the Week

Fairfield University outside hitter Haililani Pokipala has won the MAAC Offensive Player of the Week. For the full story click here. In the weekend she had 21 kills and 19 digs. She also recorded a double double in the win against St. Peters a win that snapped the team's three match losing streak. For the season, the Hawaiian native leads the team in kills per set and is second in digs per set.

She really had a great weekend, but is this the same confident team? In the video posted on fairfieldstags.com, Pokipala says that the goal on the team in the beginning of the year was to obviously win a MAAC Championship, but now she says the goal is to stay focused in practice and hopefully it will translate to a win. I have never seen a team lose so much confidance. When the time gets tough, the good and winning teams will persevere and win that game and win the crown. The team has gone to the MAAC tournament as the top seed every year since 2001 and has not won one championship. Is this a strong enough team to come back from difficulties and win one without the best talent?

Rachel Romanksy earns MAAC Rookie of the Week

Stags setter Rachel Romansky earned her first MAAC Rookie of the Week. For the full story click here. She had a breakout weekend posting 67 assists and also tallying 11 kills on a .409 hitting percentage.

I honestly think she could be one of the better players on the team already. It seems that every game, she does something positive for the team. She has been filling up her stat sheet each game and has been very impressive even getting 8 kills in the loss to Iona. If you see her play a game you will be very impressed. She has her patent jump set and is deadly accurate. When she tries to make a kill, she will use this jumper to her advantage and has the talent to put the ball EXACTLY where she wants it. Congrats!

Jac Ley wins MAAC Rookie of the Week

Stags freshmen Jac Ley was named MAAC Rookie of the Week. For a complete recap click here. Ley scored her first two collegiate goals aganist Stony Brook and currently leads the team with 4 points and two goals.

This is the common theme for the team this year. All four of the originally drafted freshmen have played significant minutes in each game and have played very well. They really look like the real deal and do not get the credit that they deserve. Yes they will make the rookie mistake but for the most part it looks like the Stags can get 4 MAAC All-Rookie team players.

Michael O'Keeffe wins MAAC Defensive Player of the Week

Stags goalie Michael O'Keeffe has won his second consective MAAC Defensive Player of the Week. He allowed 1 goal in his last three games including a shutout aganist Boston College. He had a 333 minute consecitive scoreless streak snapped and leads the MAAC in save percentage and goals per game.

Very underrated in terms of the MAAC and Fairfield. He has the chance to be one of the best players to ever put on a Stags uniform. I mean, he was named to the all-MAAC first team last year and is well on his way to be named that again.

Erik Ilisije and Michael O' Keeffe earn all-MAAC honors

Fairfield Stags forward Erik Ilisije and goalie Michael O'Keeffe earned all MAAC honors from the previous week. For the complete story click here.

Ilisije scored 2 goals in the week with both of the tallies coming in a 2-1 win aganist the Yale Bulldogs on Lessing Field. Those were his first two points of the season and currently leads the team in scoring.

This seems to be a trademark for Ilisije. He seems to score in bunches. Last year he had a couple of multi goal games and finished with 6 on the season.

Michael O'Keeffe earned MAAC Defensive player of the week after only allowing one goal in over 180 minutes of play. The sophomore earned First Team All-MAAC last year and recorded his first shutout of the 2010 campaign. For the season he has allowed 1.09 goals per game.

I am happy for O'Keeffe because the talent is there. He struggled early and started to get down on himself. I talked with him after the tie with Bradley and he seemed upset. He told me that he apologized to his coach after the game, as well. Nice bounce back for the Kiwi. When he is on, he is one of the best in the MAAC.