Both squads took a little while to get up to speed in the first quarter -- passes were errant and wheels were rusty. Vermont actually had its best showing right from the get-go with a controlled perimeter offense; something that would have been a good precursor to picking their spots, except that it seemed to be all that Vermont was capable of (excepting Kip Edwards). Vermont got into a pattern of passing the ball around the outside, with no real threat of burning someone in a one on one matchup, until the ball landed at someone's feet after an attempted overhand pass. Midway through the first, Fairfield's Spencer Steele started things off by taking advantage of Vermont's unusually small defense, bulling his way around the right side of the goal for a score. He followed that up by bulling around the left side and dumping it off for a score after he forced Vermont to double team. UVM wisely put (6'4" or so) Ian Hopper on Steele after that, and succeeded in quieting him for the remainder of the game.

That never mattered in the end because attackman Rob Cipioni started becoming unconscious at that point. He dropped 7 and 3 for the day, and they were all of the patient, heady, opportunistic variety. He never rushed or forced his shot, changed up his pace constantly, and was immaculate as a finisher. Between the quick feet and smart ball movement of Cipioni, Mark Beckwith, and Keith Urgo, Vermont's D looked disoriented. Of course, it helped that the Stags as a whole were just flat-out better athletes -- Vermont was more timid on ground balls, didn't clear the crease as well, and were at a disadvantage on nearly every one on one matchup. Vermont did have bright spots in goalie Brendan Hall, who saved everything he should of (plus a couple dazzlers), and middie Kip Edwards, who showed good vision and quarterbacking (and served as UVM's only realistic dodging threat).

The tight score against Carolina apparently wasn't a fluke; the Stags have got the skills to do some top 20 damage, and next week's game up at Cornell will prove a good measuring stick of how far Fairfield has come.