Welcome to week 13 of the college lacrosse season, Y’all!
Believe it or not, the final week of the college lacrosse regular season has arrived and there is still much to be played for as seedings for conference tournaments will be fought for tooth and nail from Friday through Sunday.
Week three of the college lacrosse season has come and gone, and with 30-plus games being played it was the most jammed-packed weekend of the season thus far.
Andrew Baxter came to Fairfield as one of the most sought-after assistant coaches in the nation. After all, he had just helped lead Yale to a national title in 2018 and an NCAA title game appearance in 2019 as the Elis’ defensive coordinator, leading one of the fiercest defenses in the nation.
The Fairfield Stags are the 33rd DI team and fifth from the CAA to release their 2022 men’s lacrosse schedule. The Stags are coming off a 2021 campaign in which they went 2-9 overall (0-8 CAA) against a conference-heavy schedule. The Stags are entering their third season and first normal one under head coach Andrew Baxter.
The 2021 season was a season in which grad transfers and fifth-year players seemed to dominate the landscape. However, as usual, there were freshmen at every position that broke through and shined during their first season of college lacrosse.
While it has taken a bit longer for teams and conference to get their schedules together for the 2021 season due to the Coronavirus outbreak and various restrictions surrounding the virus, Schedule release schedule has finally begun!
The Fairfield Stags have made two NCAA tournament appearances in program history, 2002 and 2005. Both seasons saw them churn out winning seasons, be ranked in the top 20, and make appearances in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
Colin Burke, attackman, has entered the NCAA Transfer Portal and is not with Fairfield for the 2019 season, which would be his senior year. Burke has led the Stags in point for the past three seasons.
Burke is a huge loss to the Fairfield program as he had been the leader for that Stags offense since stepping on the field as a freshman in 2016. Last season as junior Burke tallied 40 points (17G,23A) for the Stags. As a sophomore in 2017, Burke was named 1st team ALL-CAA and CAA Preseason Player of the Year.
The attackman is pretty high up in the record books at Fairfield, 5th all-time in points with 144 and 7th all-time in assist with 55. Burke is also ranked 9th all-time in goals with 89.
Without Burke leading the Stags offense this season they will have to look at guys such as Dylan Beckwith and Taylor Strough. Beckwith had 5 points in the Stags season opening loss against St. Joseph’s. Strough tallied 4 points in the loss.
Burke’s list of potential landing spots is not know at the moment, but we will likely know more as the season winds down. Burke will have one year of eligibility left wherever he lands.