Fairfield 4/6

[LILax]

This Saturday the Hens head up to swanky Rafferty Field to face the 5-5 Fairfield Stags in a critical CAA matchup. Delaware has beaten the Stags in six straight games going back to 2018 when Ben DeLuca took over the program. However, a couple of those games were scary close including the 2022 game when the Hens scrapped to a 14-12 victory after the Stags scored six goals in the third quarter to knot up the game at 12. That win gave the Hens the #1 seed in the CAA on the way to a NCAA quarterfinal appearance. Similarly, the winner of this game will be in a pretty solid position for the CAA tourney.

What to expect from Fairfield
Fairfield is coming off its biggest win of the year after beating the Drexel Dragons in West Philly by a score of 18-13. The game was highlighted by grad student Bryce Ford’s 6 goals and 2 assists and freshman LSM Julian Radossich’s amazing play in the middle of the field. While Ford is a known entity to the Hens (4 goals in the last two matchups), Radossich is a really interesting recruit from Delbarton HS. Through 10 games, the 6’4” 190 lbs LSM has amassed 27 GBs and 22 CTs (6th best in D1). The guy is a beast who will attempt to wreak havoc on the Hens this weekend. Keep an eye on #27. Terrific athlete. Not sure how he didn’t end up at Villanova with every other Delbarton star.

Aside from the extremely physical play of Bryce Ford (24g 12a) at attack, the Stags have some unbelievably athletic players on offense including sophomores Will Consoli (20g 10a- reigning CAA rookie of the year) at midfield and Jake Gilbert (18g 9a) at attack. They are joined by shifty freshman attackman Keegan Lynch (10g 6a) and some extremely physical middies including Boston University transfer Reilly Sullivan (6’3’ 215 lbs) and senior Luke Okupski (6’1” 190 lbs). I don’t want to go crazy overselling this offense because they have averaged just 11.1 goals a game (ranked 47Th). However they are coming off a game when they scored a season-high 18 goals on the road against an improving Drexel defensive unit.

Defensively the Stags have some holes ranked 47th while giving up 11.7 goals a game. Not bad. They have used three goalies this year, Owen Hirsch (.491), Colin Consoli (.400) and Will Snyder (.429), who have a combined .444 save percentage. Not great.

All that said, the Stags seems to be improving as the season progresses and lost a close game to the #17 ranked Towson Tigers just two weeks ago by a score of 12-10. The Hens are in for a battle for sure.

Delaware by the numbers
Delaware is the #1 scoring defense in Division 1, giving up just 8.75 goals a game. They are also the #17 scoring offense with 13.12 goals a game. The Hens have Kevin Ellington in goal who is the #7 ranked goalie by save percentage (.580) and they have OJ Morris, the #6 ranked FOGO (.625) – I have stopped making jokes about his stats after his performance against Chase Patterson, Morris is good. They have the #10 goal scorer in Mike Robinson with an average of 3.0 per game. They have an improving freshman attackman, John McCurry, who has 11 goals over the last five games. And they have JP Ward (15g 18a) who orchestrates the Hens entire offense.

But all of those numbers don’t mean a thing if they can’t get to 14 goals on Saturday, because that is what it will probably take to beat the Stags in Connecticut this weekend. I hope that I am wrong, but I think this Fairfield team is an up-and-coming program. They have looked awful this year in losses to Sacred Heart, UNC and Bryant (I mean REALLY awful). But they have recently looked like a young team that is finally gelling. While faceoffs have improved lately, the defense and goaltending continues to be a problem. Hopefully, the Hens can exploit those weaknesses. Can’t wait.

[77HEN]

Game day! If we didn’t have Flo Sports, I guess we would just be able to tune directly to the university’s broadcast direct (Flo is only a middle man). I hope wherever MLAX lands that they have a good TV arrangement. The soccer situation is not real encouraging.

Yes, today’s game looks like a tough test for the Hens. Hoping the defense can hold FField to a low score and the offense can put it together. Something must have changed for FField after a not so good start this year to become a strong competitive bunch. We will see.

[77HEN]

McCurry is absolutely shooting lights out today. Making the goalie look like a frozen statue. Hens up 11-6 in the 3rd.

And, as soon as I mention FLO, I see the broadcast is outside their control and is broadcast direct by FF.

[77HEN]

Hens take the lead after trailing most of the first half. Then score another goal for a 7-5 lead at half. They outscore FF 7-1 in the 2nd half and win going away at 14-6. Great game by the defense and GK Ellington with 15 saves and 70%+ save percentage. The FF GK had 15 saves too, to keep his team somewhat close.

Freshman McCurry looks like the replacement for Ty Kurtz. He scored 5 goals with some real sharpshooting zingers from outside that just froze the GK. He is a good one.

You know, FB has its tradition and much larger fan base but this LAX program is absolutely the jewel of UD Athletics at this time. AD Rawak just has to find a good, or even great, conference for this team. She will have earned her place if she can do that. If she doesn’t, I would not be surprised to see coach DeLuca move on to somewhere else. He has done an outstanding job. Come on Chrissi, find a proper home for MLAX.

[BlueHenBill]

Hens take the lead after trailing most of the first half. Then score another goal for a 7-5 lead at half. They outscore FF 7-1 in the 2nd half and win going away at 14-6. Great game by the defense and GK Ellington with 15 saves and 70%+ save percentage. The FF GK had 15 saves too, to keep his team somewhat close.

Freshman McCurry looks like the replacement for Ty Kurtz. He scored 5 goals with some real sharpshooting zingers from outside that just froze the GK. He is a good one.

You know, FB has its tradition and much larger fan base but this LAX program is absolutely the jewel of UD Athletics at this time. AD Rawak just has to find a good, or even great, conference for this team. She will have earned her place if she can do that. If she doesn’t, I would not be surprised to see coach DeLuca move on to somewhere else. He has done an outstanding job. Come on Chrissi, find a proper home for MLAX.

77HEN, I agree with you. However, AD Rawak can't make any Div I conference invite any UD non-CUSA sports if those conferences for whatever reason(s) don't want to invite UD. UD has burned its bridge with the CAA. I doubt that the Big 10 , ACC, Big East, A10, Patriot, Ivy, AAC, Sun Belt, and/or any other eastern or southern conferences are going to invite UD for any sport. As long as any conference has the required minimum number of teams for any sports, what incentive do they have to invite UD for any sport where UD can just be another team that could claim the conference's NCAA post-season slot? Depending upon what happens, I would fault AD Rawak for not securing future nvite(s) from other conferences long before UD made its move to the CUSA.

[Henny]

I have no knowledge but I don’t doubt Chrissi is working on LAX and FH to a very strong conference for both sports. One that might surprise some folks. The men’s soccer move will make sense down the road probably.

[LILax]

It was great to have Matt Montgomery back on defense. He did a great job keeping Bryce Ford in check. The Hens helping defense completely smothered the Stags in the second half holding them to just one goal. They barely got off shots in the second half as the Hens constantly threw double teams at the Stags, leading to 14 CTs.

As per usual Kevin Ellington was awesome in goal with 14 saves (.714).

Good win for the Hens. Put a big number on Fairfield and held them to just 6 goals.

This was a good day to be a Blue Hen.

[Cluck U]

Woot!

[77HEN]

Surprise, surprise! Rain not currently in the forecast for this coming Saturday. Woot!

[Cluck U]

Surprise, surprise! Rain not currently in the forecast for this coming Saturday. Woot!

Tailgate. 10am.