Air Force Academy
Fairfield
Falcons Fall in Conference Opener at Fairfield, 15-8
4/6/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Lacrosse
April 6, 2003
Fairfield goalkeeper CJ Kemp made 22 saves including nine in the fourth quarter to lead the Fairfield men's lacrosse team to a 15-8 Great Western Lacrosse League (GWLL) victory over Air Force. The win improves Fairfield to 1-1 in the GWLL and 5-3 overall, while the loss drops the Falcons to 2-6 overall and 0-1 in the league.
The first quarter resembled something of a chess match with each team trading cautious possessions, neither wanting to tip their hand. Matt Buecker scored the first of his four goals to put Fairfield on the board first at 11:16 off an assist by AJ Califano. Matt Baglio doubled the lead with an unassisted goal at 7:52, but Air Force's Kyle Ward answered with a goal at 6:59 then John Smith tied the game at 4:58. Rory McCarthy retook the lead for Fairfield when he finished Baglio's bullet pass at 3:20 of the first to give the Stags a 3-2 advantage after one.
Ricky Voight and AJ Califano combined for three unanswered second quarter goals to build a 6-2 Fairfield lead. With 1:35 left in the first half, Warf made 6-3 when he finished William Keleher's pass for an extra man goal.
The Falcons cut the lead to two with Adam Gaudinski's unassisted goal just 53 seconds into the second half, but Buecker would answer with an unassisted tally of his own just seconds later. Lederer scored off the ensuing face-off to make it 7-5, but Buecker and John Kusak scored back to back tallies at 12:06 and 11:20 to stretch the Fairfield lead to four.
At 7:27 Lederer scored off an assist from Greg Dangler, but McCarthy scored back to back goals off assists from Baglio, the second while on an extra man possession, then Steve DeVoe collected a ground ball off the opening fourth quarter face-off, carried into the zone and slammed the door shut on the Falcons as he zipped one into the bottom right corner.
Air Force pressured in the final stanza, out shooting the Stags 18-8. Kevin Krieger scored a pair of goals, but Kemp was too sharp in goal and the Fairfield lead was too great. Buecker and Baglio each had goals in the final quarter, while rookie Rick Herlihy notched his first collegiate tally off an assist from classmate Josh Thornton with just six seconds remaining in regulation.
Eric Lederer led the Falcons with a pair of goals and a pair of assists. William Arnold made six saves in goal for the Falcons.
"We need to put this loss behind us and focus on our upcoming game against Notre Dame," head coach Fred Acee said. "We go back on the road next week and we need to be prepared."
NCAA Men's Lacrosse Box ScoreAir Force at Fairfield4-6-03Individual Scoring
Scoring 1 2 3 4 TotalAir Force (2-6, 0-1 GWLL) 2 1 3 2 8Fairfield (5-3, 1-1 GWLL) 3 3 5 4 15
Goals -
Fairfield: Matt Buecker (4), Rory McCarthy (3), Matt Baglio (2), AJ Califano (2), Steve DeVoe (1), John Kusak (1), Ricky Voight (1), Rick Herlihy (1). Air Force: Eric Lederer (2), Kyle Warf (2), Kevin Krieger (2), Adam Guadinski (1), John Smith (1). Assists - Fairfield: Matt Baglio (4), Matt Buecker (2), A.J. Califano (1), Rory McCarthy (1), Troy Bamann (1), Josh Thornton (1), Kevin Finnerty (1). Air Force: Greg Dangler (3), Eric Lederer (2), William Keleher (1).
Shots on Goal 1 2 3 4 TotalAir Force 9 13 7 18 47Fairfield 9 9 8 8 34
Ground Balls 1 2 3 4 TotalAir Force 6 7 14 11 38Fairfield 14 10 11 8 43
Face-offs Won 1 2 3 4 TotalAir Force 1 2 3 4 10Fairfield 5 3 6 3 17
Goalkeeper Summary Min. Saves GoalsAir Force (Arnold) 60 6 15Fairfield (Kemp) 60 22 8
Penalties 1 2 3 4 TotalAir Force 1-0:30 0-0 1-1:00 1-:30 3-2:00Fairfield 0-0 1-1:00 0-0 1-0:30 2-1:30
Good/Failed Clears 1 2 3 4 TotalAir Force 5/5 5/0 4/4 4/1 18/10Fairfield 5/0 5/1 7/2 5/3 22/6
Good/Failed EMO 1 2 3 4 TotalAir Force 0/0 1/0 0/0 0/1 1/1Fairfield 0/1 0/0 1/0 0/1 1/2
Attendance: 534
Scoring SummaryQtr. Team Time FU-Opp. Goal Assist1 F 11:16 1-0 Buecker Califano1 F 7:52 2-0 Baglio ---1 A 6:59 2-1 Warf Lederer1 A 4:58 2-2 Smith ---1 F 3:20 3-2 McCarthy Baglio2 F 11:17 4-2 Voight Buecker2 F 7:38 5-2 Califano Bamann2 F 6:50 6-2 Califano Baglio2 A 1:35 6-3 Warf Keleher EMO Goal3 A 14:07 6-4 Guadinski ---3 F 13:11 7-4 Buecker ---3 A 13:01 7-5 Lederer Dangler3 F 12:06 8-5 Buecker McCarthy3 F 11:20 9-5 Kusak Buecker3 A 7:27 9-6 Lederer Dangler3 F 5:19 10-6 McCarthy Baglio3 F 3:59 11-6 McCarthy Baglio EMO Goal4 F 14:44 12-6 DeVoe ---4 A 13:12 12-7 Krieger Lederer4 F 8:24 13-7 Buecker Finnerty Short Handed Goal4 A 3:59 13-8 Krieger Dangler4 F 1:41 14-8 Baglio ---4 F 0:06 15-8 Herlihy Thornton
