Trailing 2-0 to No. 3 seed Fairfield in the second half of the opening round of the Metro Conference Women’s Soccer Championship, No. 6 seed Marist’s season seemed all but over.
Then, freshman forward Mia Fluckiger tripled her season’s goal total with a pair of scores to propel the Red Foxes (7-9-2, 7-4-1 Metro) right back into contention and send the game to overtime, before the Stags (10-6-3, 8-3-1 Metro) prevailed in penalties following two scoreless extra time periods. The loss extends Marist’s drought without a postseason win to 10 years; they last beat Rider 1-0 in 2016.
“I hate PKs, and it’s not a fun way to lose. I think it is a tough game that just went into double overtime,” said Marist head coach Nicole Pacapelli Ciano.
Soccer penalty kicks are decided in sets of five. After five kicks from each team, both teams had made four, advancing to a sudden-death sixth round, with one shot per team. There, Marist junior defender Caroline Liptak took the first shot and aimed to the left side, where three of the four Marist kicks were scored. Sophomore goalkeeper Marilyn Dixon made the save.
Both Marist and Fairfield took out their starting goalkeepers for penalty kicks. Dixon replaced junior Alyssa Gluting while Marist’s junior goalkeeper Samantha Graf, who made nine saves, came out for junior Nelly Bianchi-Nagle.
“Sam has been great for us all year, and she was great in the game today. But based upon our evaluations and training, Nelly just seems to be a little better at PKs,” said Pacapelli Ciano.
Junior midfielder Kaitlyn McQueeney stepped up to take the sixth penalty for Fairfield. She kicked it left, past Bianchi-Nagle, securing the win.
The game was played at Tenney Stadium today — Marist’s first time hosting a playoff game since 2019 — despite Fairfield being the higher-seeded team, finishing third to Marist’s sixth. Fairfield is ineligible to host postseason games this year, as they plan to depart for the Colonial Athletic Conference in 2027.
This marks the last time Marist will face Fairfield as a conference opponent, and it finishes 8-12-8 all-time against the Stags.
The Red Foxes’ first goal in the comeback came in the 59th minute, when graduate student midfielder Ava Nielsen found Fluckiger in the middle of the box, who shot it over Fairfield’s junior goalkeeper Alyssa Gluting to make it 2-1.
The second goal came in the 72nd minute, when junior defender Riley Benito got the ball off a Marist corner. She shot it, but a Stag defender deflected it and couldn’t clear it. Fluckiger found it again and buried it; she had only scored one goal on the season before today.
“Coming in as a freshman and putting two goals in the back of the net in a conference playoff game, I’m excited for her future,” said Pacapelli Ciano.
In postseason NCAA women’s soccer games, penalty kicks are preceded by two 10-minute periods of sudden death, or golden goal overtime. In the first period, Marist junior forward Ariana Mullin shot three times, her closest chance coming after getting past Gluting on the left side, but she missed by a foot.
In the second period, Fairfield shot five times, but could not find the back of the net.
Fairfield’s first goal came in the sixth minute, as senior forward Ella Pisani’s long-range curler beat Graf. Their second came in the 47th off the foot of sophomore forward Amelie Stewart.
In conference play this season, Marist was one of the most aggressive teams in the Metro. They finished third in shots per game with 16.92; they put up 12.50 a game last season. Fairfield leads the conference when it comes to shots, however, as they average 26 a game.
Today, both schools brought their aggressive attacks, as Fairfield outshot Marist 21-17. Both teams put a fair number of shots on target; the Stags had 11, and the Red Foxes had 10.
When these two schools met earlier in the season, Fairfield beat Marist 5-1, though the final score did not reflect the game. The Red Foxes played a closer game, outshooting Fairfield 21-20, and two key fouls gave Fairfield goals on a penalty and a free kick.
Fairfield will advance and visit two-seeded Niagara in the semifinals on Thursday.
For Marist, this was the last game that will be played by graduate students: forward Marissa Foster, midfielder Ava Nielsen, and defender Ava Lanfredi, as well as two seniors, defender Kelsey Peduto and midfielder Delia Hahn.
Pacapelli Ciano feels as though this was the first time it was totally her team. She was hired four years ago, and now gets to coach an entire group of players that she had a hand in recruiting.
“The most positive experience in regard to that group’s four years, just the ability to come back against a team like Fairfield, and the level of energy and enthusiasm and excitement, they’re changing the culture here,” said Pacapelli Ciano.
Edited by Ryan Eichem
Graphic by Jaylen Rizzo
Photo by Michael O’Neil
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