Post by FU73 on Oct 11, 2018 6:12:44 GMT -5
The Stags' (7-4-0)(4-0-0) back four along with goalkeeper Gordon Botterill kept Iona College (5-5-2)(1-3-1) in check and yielded only one goal to the conference's top scoring team as the Stags edged the Gaels 2-1 at Lessing Field before 342 fans.
"We gave real defined roles for everybody," Coach Rees said. "We wanted to make it simple as possible so what it ends up being mostly individual duals. You negate the opposition who is good on the attack by recognizing danger and you put your best defender on possession because they can't score if they don't have the ball."
"The team gets up for all of it," Coach Rees said. "We're at home and coming off a 5-0 win (over Canisius) and we have learned in the second half of Monmouth that the intensity level was what tipped the scales in our favor. So we have had momentum and carried it into tonight. We were also focus on what we have and executed early. Iona is a good technical team and they can kill you with their ball movement and individual technique. So we really wanted to come out as the aggressor and be on the front foot tonight."
With 6 games left in the MAAC Regular Season, the #1 Stags will continue their schedule later this week with a road trip to Rider University. The game is slated for Saturday with a 7:00 pm start on ESPN3.
Box Score:
fairfieldstags.com/boxscore.aspx?path=msoc&id=9136
MAAC Men's Soccer Standings
School-MAAC-Overall-Streak
Fairfield 4-0-0, 7-4-0 W4
Quinnipiac 4-0-0, 6-4-1 W6
Marist 4-1-0, 5-4-2 W3
Manhattan 3-2-0, 10-3-0 W1
Rider 3-1-0, 4-6-1 L1
Siena 2-3-0, 3-7-3 L3
Iona 1-3-1, 5-5-2 L1
Saint Peter's 1-2-1, 4-6-2 T1
Niagara 1-4-0, 3-10-0 L1
Canisius 1-3-0, 3-6-1 W1
Monmouth 0-5-0, 2-9-1 L5