The Fairfield University women’s soccer team dropped its 2012 home opener, 1-0, to visiting St. Joseph’s University Friday night on Lessing Field.  The Stags fall to 1-2-0 on the year and the Hawks improve to 3-0-1.

In a game that saw Fairfield out shoot St. Joseph’s 14-12 for the game, the Hawks broke through late in the second-half.  A foul was called at the top of the Fairfield 18, and Morgan Circe drilled the resulting free kick into the lower corner for the 1-0 edge at 77:06. The Stags seemed to have the equalizer just over four minutes later when Erin Pettersen put a ball in the back of the net, but had it disallowed due to Fairfield being offside.

Stags goalkeeper Kathleen Early, making her second collegiate start, stopped a career-best 10 shots.  She stopped eight of those shots in the first-half, when the Hawks outshot Fairfield 8-7. St. Joseph goalkeeper Christine Neal made seven saves on the night, four in the second-half, to post the clean sheet.

The Stags offside call with 9:46 to play was their only violation of the game, while St. Joseph’s was whistled offsides on three occasions.  The Stags committed more fouls 21-14, and had fewer corner kicks, 3-2, in the contest.

Fairfield returns to action on Sunday when they host Wagner on Lessing Field at 1 p.m.