Fairfield won last year's contest between these two teams, and are looking to break their two-game losing streak, while the Highlanders are hungry for their first win of 2018.
ALL TIME SERIES
The Highlanders fell 13-6 to the Stags last year on March 21.
Aaron Forster broke the NJIT record for goals in a season in that game, with his four goals that brought his season total to 20. Forster ended the season with 34 goals.
The Stags had a demanding 10-2 lead at halftime, from a 6-0 second quarter. The Highlanders were able to tally on another four goals for the final 13-6 score.
A LOOK AT THE STAGS
Fairfield is 2-6 on the year with their last loss coming against Penn State, 17-13.
Penn State had a 13-5 lead going into the fourth quarter, but the Stags kept fighting scoring eight goals in the fourth quarter.
The Stags were picked to finished fifth in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) and Colin Burke was named to the Preseason All-CAA Team.
Joe Rodrigues leads the team in goals with 19, and posted six in Fairfield's loss for Penn State. His 21 points also leads the team, followed by Colin Burke, who has 16 points on six goals and a team-leading 10 assists.
Jack Brennan and Dylan Beckwith each have 14 points, Brennan with 10 goals and four assists and Beckwith on five goals and nine assists.
Will Fox is 94-for-162 on the face-off circle and has a .580 percentage ranking him 19
th in the nation and leads the team and ranks 13
th in the nation with 56 ground balls.
Spencer Noonan ranks first in ground balls on the team with five, followed by Sean McKee, JB Smith, Samuel Murphy and Nick Panara who all have four.
Sean McKee has started all eight games for the Stags in goal, and boasts a .480 save percentage with 73 saves.
As a team the Stags rank ninth in man-up offense (.520) and 17
th in man-down defense (.750), and are 24
th in the nation in ground balls grabbing 29.38 per game.
A LOOK AT THE HIGHLANDERS
Despite falling to Saint Joseph's 14-5 on Friday, the Highlanders are still hunting for that first win of 2018.
Aaron Forster continues to be a force for the Highlanders, with a team leading 21 goals and seven assists for 28 points.
Junior Forster is continuing his 22 game point scoring streak that he started in his sophomore year, and is one point shy of 100 career points.
The Highlanders have received goals from 13 other players, 10 of which have two goals or more and 11 are either freshman or sophomores.
Cole Robillard is coming off his first career hat-trick against Saint Joseph's, and ranks second on the team in goals with 10 and points with 13.
Defender
John Tachon has been one of the Highlanders beams of light in 2018. The sophomore captain leads the team with 42 ground balls and 14 caused turnovers and ranks in the top 30 in the nation for both stats.
Nick Marzullo has posted double-digit saves in seven out of the Highlanders nine games. This is the senior's fourth consecutive year with 100 or more saves. Marzullo has 101 saves so far this year, and a .486 save percentage.
