We're Number 1!

With the West Virginia Mountaneers giving up 65 points to #19 Georgetown, the Fairfield University women's basketball team is in a TIE with West Virginia for the best defense in the nation at 48.0 points per game.

Stags Athletes to Take Part in a Talent Show

The Fairfield Stags will host their first ever Stag Athletic Talent show on Saturday, January 29th at 7PM at Alumni Hall. The event is sponsored by the Student Athletic Advisory Committee (SAAC) and all proceeds from 50/50 raffles, concessions, and collection throughout the evening will be donated to the Grace Evanko Fund, a second grader from the Fairfield area who is battling an inoperable brain tumor. The event is free and open to the University community and public.

Grace and her family enjoyed spending time with members of SAAC at the women’s basketball game against Niagara University on January 23. "It was a great opportunity to meet Grace and her family, get to know them, as well as support the women’s basketball team,” said SAAC co-president, and women’s lacrosse player Kelley Brady.

More student-athletes will have the chance to meet Grace and her family as well this Saturday night as all 20 varsity programs will be putting on an act, or helping with set-up and concessions.

The student-athletes will have five minutes to show the crowd their talent. "It will be an exciting event for the teams to show their creative side in a fun competition. The event is another way for the student-athletes to come together as a group, instead of 20 different teams,” said Senior Associate Director of Athletics and SAAC Advisor Alison Sexton.

Each team will perform in front of a panel of guest judges including head men’s basketball coach Ed Cooley, as well as former FUSA president Hutchinson Williams. Items to be raffled include MAAC apparel, Harlem Globetrotter tickets, digital camera picture frame and much more! So come out to Alumni Hall this Saturday, January 29 at 7 pm to support the Stags and a great cause.

This is an absolutely terrific story, I did watch the video of her father speaking about the event and he seems like a great guy. This event will be a segment on the next episode of Stags Country. But this is a great chance to see the Stags perform at Alumni, in a different way then they are used to but for an even better cause.

Most of the pieces I have heard are dance numbers but I have also heard rumors that there will be a circus act and Keith Matthews will display his ball dribbliing abilities.

Women's Defense is Number 2

The second best defensive team in the entire nation doesn’t reside in Storrs or compete in any of the typical “power” conferences, instead they play their home games right here at Alumni Hall. Even though the Fairfield University women’s basketball team might not get the national attention on the news, or enjoy the hype that bigger schools do, they have a chance to end the year as the national champions in scoring defense, currently only less than a point behind West Virginia for the top spot.

Fourth year head coach Joe Frager was aware that the main focus on the team had to be defense, “we knew going into this season that we weren’t going to be the type of team that was capable of scoring 75, 80, 85 points on a regular basis, so we knew we were needed to try to keep teams down,” he said.

Achieving this success doesn’t happen overnight. It takes months of sweat on the practice court and hours in the film room. The process to make this unit a defensive rock started before they played in a game. “Most of the preseason what we do is we work on fundamentals, we work on guarding different screening actions, how we’re going to guard ball screens, how we’re going to guard staggered screens,” Frager said. “Once the season starts it’s just basically scouting report defense [and] breaking down a whole bunch of film.”

That method of breaking down film is more than watching tapes. Assistant Coach Laura Scinto heads the staff that she says that spends about 6-8 hours watching each game, which could be as many as 4-5 contests, and then cutting each team into 15 minute segments for the players. When the squad suits up for practice they will focus 20-45 on defense depending on what scheme the offense runs. All that time helps implant what Scinto says is that the most important part of Fairfield’s defensive system is “attention to detail.”

But as good as the Stags have been in recent years, this season they have a chance to make national attention, at least on the defensive side. They have held six opponents to under 50 points and have done so without the talent of big-time players, Frager says that their defense is based on more character, “to try and get a team to play that way you’re constantly preaching: communication, trust, and pride.”

Since being named the second head coach in school history he has led the team to an average of twenty wins a year including the program’s first ever postseason victory just a season ago. Frager believes that the most important aspect of a defensive team is their constancy, “that’s always something I’ve always believed in all the years that I’ve coached. You can have off nights shooting the ball, but there’s no excuse to really have an off night defensively.”

Frager’s defense system has been the focal point of his Hall of Fame career. Before coming to Fairfield he led the Southern Connecticut State Owls to a Division II National Championship, which earned him National Coach of the Year honors.

He also has already won the statistical defensive national championship with the Owls, “I guess it was the way I was raised. Going back to when I was very very young it’s something my dad tried to instill in me and every coach that I ever played for, and the coaches that I even to this day look towards,” he said. “I’ve always admired the way Coach Knight used to coach at Indiana defensively, I have a lot of admiration for the way Coach Izzo coaches at Michigan State, so those are the types of coaches that we’ve tried to pattern ourselves after.” That pattern led Frager to being inducted into the New England Basketball Hall of Fame last year.

While some good teams might be based on a top defensive system, if they want to grab national attention or gain fan support, offense still remains more popular. “It’s hard to recruit blue chip players by saying we’re going to defend, we’re going to defend, we’re going to defend. The elite players, the top 100 players want to know what their going to do offensively.”

However, Frager believes that the more successful squads are deeper than just being able to score. “If you look at the teams that constantly have always advanced and done well they are not only gifted offensively but their capable of getting some stops as well.” While the old cliché states that ‘offense puts people in the seats’, Frager, Scinto and the Stags only care about another overused motto, ‘defense wins championships.’

Women's Basketball falls to 3-3

The Fairfield University women’s basketball team is the second best defensive unit in the nation allowing only 48.4 points per game. That’s only 0.1 PPG behind West Virginia for the national top spot and nearly an entire point better than #2 UCONN! “It has to be a consistent force,” coach Frager said. “More often than not is has been. The kids have done a tremendous job trying to do what we’ve asked.” The squad has held nine opponents to 50 points or fewer in their first 16 games and excluding an 89 point struggle against Hofstra, the Stags limit foes to 45.7 per contest.

However, as enticing as all those defensive statistics sound they have not translated into wins of late. Fairfield dropped their third straight game on Sunday to fall to 3-3 in MAAC play and 10-6 overall. “It’s really hard to take it in,” junior Desiree Pina said. “especially because it’s our third straight loss. It’s frustrating.”

That record would suggest mediocrity. While the Stags are lighting up the defensive side of the court, through the last three games their offense has been dim. In those contests they are shooting 35 percent from the floor including going 15 for 69 from behind the arc, barely good for a 22 percentage. “There’s definitely concerns. As must as we’ve struggled scoring it in terms of shooting the ball, I think we’ve turned the ball over an uncharacteristic amount,” Frager said. “We’re talking about the unforced turnovers where the mistake is simply ours where we’re either dribbling the ball off our toe, forcing the pass that’s not there. Sometimes when you struggle shooting the ball a little bit you try to start forcing things on offense and I think that’s where we’re at right now.”

The advantage of playing an 18 game schedule is that it affords a team to improve during each game. For that reason, this slide might have some benefits for the Stags. As a young team, the inexperienced players have a chance to get the offense spark needed in close games. “We have to learn from this. We have to come into the gym on Tuesday and be very positive,” Frager said. Over the road trip the team saw contributions from freshmen who have not been afforded that opportunity. Alexys Vazquez and Katie Cizynski saw more playing time, with Cizynksi scoring a career high 12 points and grabbed a personal best 6 rebounds in only 14 minutes, which almost ignited a 12 point comeback on Sunday.

The Stags know if their offense gets that one hot streak, combined with their offense prowess it can help propel a team to the championship. “In MAAC play there’s not a heck of a lot that separates the teams so there’s not a big margin for error,” the head coach said.

They are now in fifth place in the conference with 12 games yet to play. Last year they were in ninth through 10 games. But they found that magic and found themselves playing for the crown. This year they hope to find that same magical spark, and Frager saw some of it in the Manhattan game, “I thought the effort to get back in the game when we were down twelve was outstanding. I thought we showed tremendous heart.”

33 percent of the MAAC season is in the books, and with a few breaks and easy layups the Stags could believably be 5-1 or even 6-0. “If you looked at the schedule ahead of time, you would probably think we’d be anywhere from 2 to 4 wins at this point, I think we have a shot to be 5-1 and we put ourselves in that position so it’s a little bit frustrating,” Frager said. “3-3 is certainly not the end of the world.”

“What I noticed about our team is that when we’re down we never give up. You could see that last year when we went on that nine game winning streak, but also we’ve been down a lot of time and we’ve always continued to fight back,” Pina said. “We just need to keep a lot of optimism.”
The Stags will try to get back to their winning ways this weekend as they welcome Canisius and Niagara to campus. The Stags swept these two teams on the road and Frager knows how important these games are, “We need to win our home games,” he said. A couple of wins and going over .500 can really add a sense of confidence to this young team.

Loyola 54 Fairfield 52

The Fairfield University women's basketball team (10-5, 3-2 MAAC) was edged by the Loyola Greyhounds (7-9, 4-1 MAAC). Click for a complete recap and boxscore.

The Least You Should Know:
-The shooting of the Stags continue to struggle as they went only 4-15 from behind the arc and could not hit a lay up throughout the game, but especially during crunch time as they missed many close baskets today.

-Taryn Johnson had a game high 19 points but only had 5 rebounds. Once again Brittany MacFarlane picked up the slack pulling down 12 boards (the only one in the game to have double digit rebounds)

-Fairfield did do a good job at staying in the game as they did not lead at any point from 17 minutes on and trailed as much as 9 points. They missed 2 layups that would have tied the game and also could no get a rebound.

Ugly loss to say the least. The defense of the Stags really struggled as the Greyhounds seemed to be able to score at will. Maybe it was because of their size as we were all ready for their lack of size to finally bite them at the end of the game. They were giving up easy layups and really gave up multiple runs that I have not seen this year. Plenty of time their defense tried to make them lose this game.

The shooting really needs to get better. They only shot 4-10 from the free throw line which is not going to get it done in the Division 1 level. Johnson who seemed to have turned the corner from the charity stripe only went 1-4 and seems to have taken a step back once again. Inside players such as Vetra and MacFarlane went a combined 3-17 from the floor while Linney went 2-6 from three.

I have heard that ESPN U made us look real bad during the telecast. We deserved it to be honest. You have to be able to hit a lay up and free throws at this level.

Player of the Game: Taryn Johnson for her 19 points and 9-18 from the floor. Even though she did miss some layups which should have given her more points.

Up Next: The Stags return home to play Manhattan on 1/16 starting at 1:00.

Women: #2 in Defense

The Fairfield University women's basketball team, have improved to a number 2 ranking in the national scoring defense category, according to the updated stats. The only team that ranks higher than the Stags are West Virginia, and Fairfield is nearly 1 point better than UCONN. The closest other MAAC team is Manhattan who comes into the week at number 6. Fairfield is also in the top 25 in 3 point shooting defense at number 22.

With only the MAAC left to play, I would not be surprised if the Stags stay in the top 10 or even in the top 5 by the end of the year.

They do have to play Marist twice which should raise that average, and the loss to Siena might have put the Stags back down to Earth. They just blew out an Iona team who made the WNIT three out of the last four years and they have been winning with ease. The Siena game was needed to show the team that they did come into the year at number four and they are still not all the way there.

Joe Frager is known for his defense. Everywhere he has been, his top priority has always been his defense, even when he won a national title with Southern Connecticut, a place where he also had the best defense in the country. If anyone can establish a defensive presence for Fairfield, it's going to be him.

Siena 54 Fairfield 46

The Fairfield University women's basketball team (10-4, 3-1 MAAC) ended their six game winning streak losing to the Siena Saints (6,8 4-0 MAAC) on the road. Click for a complete recap and boxscore.

The Least You Should Know:
-The Stag's six game winning streak came to an end, while the Saints improved theirs to five straight.

-The Stags did not got many breaks in this game and Joe Frager said they had "two to three mental lapses" on defense in the first half and the team has not played in a game like this. He admitted that the squad made some silly mistake and were "panicky"

-Brittany MacFarlane was the lone standout and she recorded a double-double including a career high 13 rebounds.

-Desiree Pina shot 2-11 from the floor and 0-3 from behind the arc. Katelyn Linney was 4-16 and 3-14 from three while Joelle Nawrocki was 1-4 from long distance. The team total was 6-29 from three.

I agree with Frager, this was really one of the first times that the team played in a game that was not a blow out. They had to learn how to control the ball in a way that they were able to get an open shot. The team did not take advantage of their offense as it seemed everybody had an off day. The game would have been out of control if MacFarlane did not step up when Taryn Johnson was on the bench with foul trouble. Siena does deserve credit as they kept their composure and actually made their free throws.

Player of the Game: Brittany MacFarlane really showed something today.

Up Next: The Stags travel to Loyola on 1/14 at 4:30.

Nawrocki is 'Rockin'

Joelle Nawrocki, who played all but 3 minutes of the game at Niagara, is shooting a team-best 50.0 percent from the floor.

Over the last two games she is 12-24 from the floor, for 30 points, to raise her scoring average to 8.0 a game for the year - 24th in the MAAC.

She has scored in double figures five times this season - four of those coming in the last six games. Against Niagara she handed out a career-high six assists and a positive assist-to-turnover ratio. Nawrocki is also 8th in the conference in assists with 2.3 per game.

Historic Night For Linney

Katelyn Linney scored a game high 27 points against Niagara helping the Stags to their fifth straight win. In the process she reached the 500 points mark and became just the seventh member of the Fairfield basketball program to reach 100 made threes.

Katelyn Linney has connected 35 times from behind the arc this season and now has 102 career makes from downtown. There are only seven players in Fairfield history that have connected 100 or more times from behind the arc, led by the 209 makes of Holli Tapley (1997-2001).

Katelyn Linney is 24th in the country in three-point field goal percentage and is 39th nationally in three pointers made per game.

For the season she is shooting .467 from behind the arc (35-75) and .450 from the floor. The rest of the team combined have 25, Joelle Nawrocki is second on the team with 11.

Fairfield 68 Niagara 38

The Fairfield University women's basketball team (9-3, 2-0 MAAC) won their fifth straight decision as they defeated the Niagara Purple Eagles (1-12, 0-2 MAAC). Click for a complete recap and boxscore.

The Least You Should Know:
- Katelyn Linney had 27 points as she went 5-7 from behind the arc and 10-14 from the floor.

- The team used three runs to take control of the game. The squad had seperate runs of 19-0, 13-0, and finally 14-0 to conclude the game.

- They entered the game third in the nation in scorind defense and their average will decrease after the game.

- They have swept the Western New York portion of their schedule for the second consecutive year.

It was a good effort for the Stags but this could have been the only opponent in the world they could have beaten by 30 points while only shooting 41 percent in the first half and having 6 shots blocked. This stat is gradually improving as their offense is finally waking up. The one concern you have is Pina was only .333 from the floor. When she gets going the offense should be pretty good. Hopefully this is not a down year for the junior.
Player of the Game: Katelyn Linney who had 27 points and only missed 4 shots.

Up Next:
The Stags will return home to face the Gaels of Iona College on 1/8 starting at 1 PM at Alumni Hall.

Pina is Heating Up

Desiree Pina has scored 67 of her 99 points in the last five games, raising her per game average from 5.3 a game to 9.0 a game. Over the last five outings, in which she is averaging 13.4 points per game, Pina has scored in double figures four times. She scored a career-high 24 points against St. Francis (NY), with a 7-14 effort from the field.

She is coming off a day where she struggled from the floor but was 6-9 at the line on Sunday, with her last free throw being the 100th make of her career

She has scored in double figures in each of the last three games and four of the last five, averaging 13.4 points per game in the stretch.

Pina has raised her season average to 9.0 PPG and is now shooting .257 from the floor while nearly doubling her 3 point percentage while shooting .156.

It will take a long time for her numbers to approach where we all thought that she would be when the season ends. However, it is no surprise that while she has been heating up the Stags are on a four game winning streak.

Not on the Bench Anymore

Three years ago she sat on the bench only emerging on the court for 20 games and 56 minutes of play. Combine that with her sophomore total of 37 and she saw 97 total minutes of action. In that limited time she managed to score 6 total field goals and her two season box score read 18 points. Who would have thought that 10 games into her senior season she would have attained 100 baskets and have amassed 258 career tallies?

 

When Joelle Nawrocki walked on to the Fairfield campus she immediately found herself behind the shadows of the players who have already been cornerstone of the team. "Her first couple of years here, especially her first two years we had both Lauren Groom and we had Shireyll Moore here, two players very capable of playing the three spot so she was kind of buried," head coach Joe Frager said.

 

After those two athletes graduated, it became the time that she had been waiting for. It was finally her chance to shine and show that she was able to play and to prove herself in her junior season. The opening game of that 2009-2010 campaign featured several career highs as she played in a then personal best 20 minutes. She recorded 3 rebounds which was as many as she had in the entire 2008 season and one board shy of her 2007 mark. She also swatted her first career block and swiped her third steal. Those 20 minutes almost doubled her career totals in every statistic.

 

By the time the team played their fifth game she had set personal bests in every single offensive and defensive category. Then came December 3^rd. The squad competed in their second home game of the young season and their first in the Arena at Harbor Yard. It also became the first time that she would hear her name resonating throughout the venue in the starting lineup. In that contest she reached career greats in points (15), field goals (6), three point field goals(3), while logging a personal best 39 minutes. That is more time than she saw in the entire previous year! In fact, during the first six games of the 2009 schedule, she almost doubled the amount of minutes she had in her entire career. "The first two years were difficult not playing a lot but over the past two years I've really done all that I can to contribute in every way I can and it's been really good," Nawrocki said.

 

That start seemed to be the one that turned her Fairfield career around. She would follow with five double-digit scoring games, 100 rebounds and 60 assists. Now in her final season wearing the Fairfield uniform, she is counted upon to be an even more impactful player than last year's breakout season, "last year we started her at times but we found out that we thought our best lineup was starting three post players,"F rager said. She has found herself to be a constant part of the opening lineup becoming a starter in all 10 games and has been the team leader in three separate contests. She also paces the squad in field goal percentage and three point accuracy.

 

Even though her 100 career field goal against Albany was a little milestone and one that is hardly even noticed, it shows how far she has come from her first two seasons. Her head coach said, "The patience that she showed and the commitment to our team has really shown through this year and Joelle has done a great job for us defensively and has made some timely baskets as well."

Fairfield has Best Defensive Game

The Fairfield University women's basketball team entered Wednesday's contest against the Albany Great Danes as the eighth best defensive team in the entire nation. The squad only had surrendered 50.2 points per game and had limited their foes to shoot only 35 percent. They would 'protect' those rankings as the miniscule numbers would decrease even smaller as they held the America East team to a program record 26 points while shooting a minute 16 percent from the floor. Statistically it was the best defensive effort in the 30 year history of Fairfield women's basketball. "I'm ecstatic with this win," head coach Joe Frager said, "I thought our kids did a fantastic job defensively. They paid really close attention to the scouts and really executed it to a tee."

 

Albany already became the seventh opponent that the Stags had held to under 50 points in the first 10 games of the season. Since Frager became the head of the coaching circle, the Stags have held 26 opponents to under 50 points and are 25-1 in those games. They have also confined 14 teams to under 45 points and lastly restricted 6 to below 40 tallies. It is safe to say that defense is something that the coach emphasizes in practice, "We really focused on our defense that is what we keyed in on before going into the game, we just wanted to take away their plans and make it as hard as possible for them," Joelle Nawrocki said.

 

Excluding the Hofstra game where they gave up 89 points, the team has allowed only 38 points per game! The big reason why they were able to 'secure' their winning streak which now stands at three games and 'guard' their 7-3 record.

 

Fairfield seems to have used these non-conference games as a way to flush out their mistakes and work on their strengths before the ever important MAAC portion of their schedule. "I think we're starting to turn the corner, conference play is always difficult because everyone knows each other so darn well ," Frager said.

 

With only one out-of-conference games remaining, the Stag's defense (which is the best in the MAAC) is coming together at the right time. "I think we can make a good case that this may be our best win of the season," Frager said. The head coach has always prided his team on their defensive systems. With the offense just starting to gleam the defense has always shined. If the team continues their impressive defensive effort, it just might 'secure' a MAAC crown.

Fairfield 500

The Fairfield University women's basketball team has always been noted as a successful MAAC basketball program. In 1980, Coach Diane Nolan and Fairfield began their Division I road and have experienced many ups and downs throughout the collegiate journey. The head coach led the squad to their first win of their new division against Hartford in the second game of the 1980 season and held the reigns for the next 26 years. During that stretch they were crowned champions on the MAAC Conference four times and have been on the national stage reaching the Big Dance twice. The exciting players and memorable coaches that have passed through the hallow walls of Alumni Hall have helped designing the venue with exhilarated fans and banners that hang from the roof. And after 30 years as a Division I program, the Stags have 500 wins to show for it.

 

The third win they recorded in their D I inaugural campaign was against St. Francis of New York. 496 wins later, they recorded number 500 versus the same Terriers. "[It's] really exciting. It's fun to be a part of that win," current head coach Joe Frager said. "This place has a rich history in basketball. Coach Nolan did a tremendous job when she was here. To try and continue that legacy and get this program going, it's exciting," he said.

 

214 people were in attendance to witness the historic win and the Stags 'race' to a win with a 64-50 decision. The afternoon was also an historic day for a player as Desiree Pina enjoyed a career best 24 points. Although the season is only 9 games old, it must have felt like '500 days of summer," for the junior guard. The Pre-season All-MAAC team selection entered the game shooting 20 percent from the floor and 2-22 from behind the arc. However, she has not concentrated on her recent struggles, "I don't really look at my points records, I just look at how we're going to win. If we win I can build on that anytime," Pina said.

 

Arguably, Pina is the most important player for the squad and they hope her performance is something the can build on. "It was only a matter of time before she had a game like this. She's a very competitive person and when you don't play the way you'd like to really competitive people tend to beat themselves up mentally," Frager said.

 

Fairfield now owns a two game winning streak and have "matured" according to Frager. "We've been talking to them about the importance of communicating both offensively and defensively. We're our best when we're talking on both ends of the floor and we're starting to see some of that," he said. Fairfield has now improved to 6-3 on the year but their record is not the most important aspect that they notice. Pina had one word for what she likes best of what she saw in the team, "togetherness."

 

With conference play approaching, the team is coming together at the right time. The Stags will go for win 501 on December 22^nd against Albany.

Stags go for 500

In the midst of its 30th varsity season and is on the doorstep of its 500th all-time victory. Team’s varsity record is at 499-364, a .578 winning percentage. Fairfield entered the year averaging over 17 wins per season at the varsity level and have won 65 games in just over three seasons under Joe Frager, going 65-39 under his tutelage.

They should get it against a St.Francis team who has only 1 win on the year and has lost to Manhattan by over 20 points at home. The Terriers have 60 assists to go along with 168 turnovers and have been outscored by an average of 18 points per game!

Other Milestones Coming Up:
Joelle Nawrocki needs 4 FGM for 100
Katelyn Linney needs 4 RBS for 100

Desiree Pina is Struggling

Desiree Pina entered the year as the teams leading returning scorer. However this season she is hitting only 1-20 from behind the arc and only .194 from the floor. That equates to only 6.1 points per game which is fifth on the team.

It is really hard to see Pina struggle like this. She works as hard as anyone and she really has that "it" factor. She can control the game better than any player I've seen. Although her numbers say 1-20 I hope she doesn't shy away from shooting because if she gets hot, watch out MAAC.

A Tale of Two Games

It was the best of times. It was the worst of times. It was a tale of two games for the Fairfield University women’s basketball team. Over the weekend they enjoyed their best and worst offensive and defensive displays on the season, but they did not win a game dropping their record to 4-3 on the season. In fact, on Thursday against Villanova they struggled to the worst scoring display in the 30 year history in the program. Out of the 1003 career games, no Fairfield team, has ever tallied as little as 29 points. They also set the lowest mark for points in a half while only recording 9 in the first half. “It was a frustrating game,” Coach Joe Frager said. The fourth year head coach was disappointed in the amount of layups they missed in the game, “if we make just one of those, you’re looking at a 31-30 win.” Only four out of the 9 Stags players scored in the contest with junior forward Taryn Johnson leading the way with 11 points. The Stags remain winless against the Wildcats in their history, falling to 0-11. However the Pavilion at Villanova University wasn’t a ‘bleak house’ entirely for the Stags. “We were tremendously defensively,” Frager said. Fairfield held Villanova to only 30 points in the game, the lowest they have held an opponent since they held Lafayette to 29 points last year. “When you hold a Big East team to 30 points that’s impressive,” Frager said. The Stags did not allow a single point in the final 5 minutes of the contest.
The women’s basketball team traveled to Hofstra on Sunday to complete their weekend set of games. Although the boxscore would be the exact opposite, the result would stay the same: a loss. Playing against a team that had the “best press we’ve seen all season” and a system that is similar to the one that Kentucky runs according to Joe Frager, the Stags defense struggled allowing a season high 89 points. That was the most points allowed in a game since 2005 when Fairfield allowed 110 points against then the number one team in the nation: the Duke Blue Devils. Statistically it was the worst defensive performance in Frager’s four year reign. “They are two completely types of teams,” Frager said.
The Sunday game was not all ‘hard times’ however for the Stags. After only reaching 29 points in the Villanova game they accumulated 73 points to help the teams ‘pride.’ The best mark in regulation since November of 2008 when the Stags defeated Wagner 81-59.
Frager said it was good to see the team put the ball in the basket but he is hoping for a “few more role players to step up.” He believes that if they can find other people to make baskets then it would make it easier for players such as Desiree Pina and Katelyn Linney to score. The team’s leading scorer Desiree Pina has struggled in the opening stages of the season. The junior amassed 12.1 points per game last season but is only averaging a half of that total this year with 6.1 including going 1-20 from behind the arc. “I’m concerned. I’m definitely concerned,” Frager said. The Preseason All-MAAC team selection is also shooting just 19 percent from the floor. Frager does believe that she can find her way out of this slump, “she’s a battler,” he said.
After a scorching start to the season, sophomore Katelyn Linney has also cooled off. She was once shooting over 50 percent from behind the arc but is only 2-12 from downtown in her last 3 games. “[They are] guarding Katelyn tougher and tougher,” Frager said.
The squad finds themselves at 4-3 in the last few games before the end of the semester break. “If you had asked me in the preseason the way we were playing if I would have taken 4-3 I probably would have said ‘Yes’” Frager said. Although he said there is no reason the squad should not be 5-2. He says the purpose of out-of-conference games are to “[try] and get better.” He continues to look for the other players to step up for the team can fulfill their ‘great expectations.’

National Rankings

Men's Basketball:
Team out of 336:
Scoring Offense (61.2 PPG) 290th
Scoring Defense (58.6 PPG) 36th
3 Pt Field Goals (4.6 PG) 292nd
3 Pt Pct Defense (30.2%) 101st
Rebound Margin (4.4) 97th

Individual out of 250:
Derek Needham- 3 Pt Field Goals (2.2) 183rd
Ryan Olander- Rebounds (7.4) 171st
Derek Needham- Assits (3.6) 231st
Ryan Olander- Blocked Shots (2.2) 51st
Colin Nickerson- Assist Turnover Ratio (2.5) 61st

Women's Basketball:
Team out of 333:
Scoring Offense (58.4 PPG) 244th
Scoring Defense (47.4 PPG) 12th
3 Pt Field Goals (6.2 PG) 88th
3 Pct Defense (43.7%) 7th
Rebound Margin (2.8) 119th

Individual out of 250:
Katelyn Linney- 3 Pt Field Goals PG (3.8) 3rd
Katelyn Linney- 3 Pt Field Goals Pct (57.6) 5th
Desiree Pina- Assist Turnover Ration (3.0) 15th
Desiree Pina- Assists PG (3.6) 203rd
Laura Vetra- Rebounds PG (7.4) 215th

Women's Basketball vs Villanova

Comparing the two:
The Stags outrebound the Wildcats by nearly 8.5 boards a game. Villanova is actually being outrebounded for they year. While the Stags maintain a +2.8.

With the help of Katelyn Linney, Fairfield is shooting .435% behind the arc with the sophomore guard is shooting .576% which is 5th in the nation.

The only categories that Villanova has an edge on is assists and turnovers. Nova averages two more assists than Fairfield while committing less turnovers. Desiree Pina enters the game 22nd in the nation in assist to turnover ratio.

The Series:

Fairfield has never beaten Villanova and they are 0-10. In a series dating back to 1996.

Linney is Heating Up

The Fairfield University women’s basketball team improved their record to a perfect 2-0 after cruising past the George Mason Pioneers 54-37. The 489 fans who swarmed Alumni Hall witnessed a performance that became a sight to see. Stags sophomore guard Katelyn Linney scored a career high 30 points and tied the school single game record with 7 three pointers. The crowd grew louder as each straight shot caressed the bottom of the net. It was the first time a women’s basketball player tallied more than 30 points in a game since Stephanie Geehan recorded 33 against the same Pioneers. “She had a phenomenal, phenomenal game,” fourth year head coach Joe Frager said. “I was impressed the most by her defense,” Frager continued.

The New Jersey native is returning from an impressive rookie campaign where she enjoyed one of the best seasons by a Stags freshmen. She won six MAAC Rookie of the Week Awards averaging 10.2 points per game and swishing 67 three pointers, the third most in a single season in Fairfield history. “I feel more comfortable this year,” Linney said after the win, “the freshmen nerves are gone and I’ve grown a year.” Frager said that she played a “complete game.”

If the Stag want to prove their preseason ranking to finish fourth wrong, they are going to have to look for Linney and the rest of the Stags to play “complete games.” “We need to execute on offense,” Frager said. The head coach admits that the team is still looking for their biggest strength but is impressed by their inside play. “They have risen to the occasion,” he said. With the graduation of two presences in the paint with Tara Flaherty and Stephanie Geehan, who are both playing professionally oversee, the size of the team was a question mark when the season tipped off. “Sometimes it will be post players by committee,” Frager said. So far the Stags have “rise to the occasion,” as they have outrebounded their opponents by 13.

Although it is only the second game of the season, the victory against George Mason can be something that the team can build on. “It was a great win for us and for the conference,” Linney said. During her career game she only missed 3 shots the entire night. She went 10-12 from the floor including a astonishing 7-8 from three. It was the first time that the Stags have beaten the Patriots since 1996. Linney’s historic night could be compared to the last time a Fairfield team took on George Mason. Last year it was Mike Evanovich who drained a school record for three pointers in a game during the men’s magical comeback.

The women’s team will try to continue what they hope could turn into a magical season as they finish up their four game home stand this week. The Stags will take on Cornell and the University of Rhode Island at Alumni Hall. Last year, Fairfield started the campaign 3-0. Katelyn Linney will try to keep up her hot shooting but all she is trying to do is “looking to go out there and win.”