Nov. 16, 2007

Sacred Heart vs. Fairfield Game Notes in PDF Format

Sacred Heart Pioneers (0-2, 0-0 NEC) vs. Fairfield Stags (1-0, 0-0 MAAC)

Game #3 - Sunday, November 18, 2007 - 4:30 pm - Bridgeport, Conn. - Arena at Harbor Yard (5,298)

Radio: WICC 600 am, SacredHeartPioneers.com

The Storyline... The Sacred Heart Pioneers will head down Park Avenue Sunday afternoon to the Arena at Harbor Yard for a match-up with the crosstown Fairfield Stags. The Pioneers are looking to nab their first win of the season after losses at Rhode Island, 62-43, and Stony Brook, 52-47, to start the year. The Stags come in off an impressive 72-57 win at Richmond in their season opener on Wednesday in the debut of new head coach Joe Frager. This will be the third meeting between coaches Ed Swanson and Joe Frager. The two met twice in 1998-99 with Swanson's Pioneers splitting with Frager's Southern Connecticut Owls.

Series... The Pioneers and Stags will meet for the first time since the 1980-81 season and for the first time as Division I opponents. The two schools met 11 times from 1974 through 1981 with the Stags holding a 7-4 edge in the series. Fairfield won the first three meetings starting in 1974-75, SHU first season of competition. The Pioneers got their first win in 1975-76, 64-51, and won again in 1977-78, 76-48. SHU took both meetings in 1978-79, the first two games on their schedule that year. The Pioneers won 71-46 across town and 75-57 at home. Fairfield won the last two meeting, 83-55 in 1979-80 and 72-47 in 1980-81.

The Coaches... Ed Swanson (SHU `89) enters his 18th season as head coach at his alma mater. Swanson posts a 278-204 record in his career at Sacred Heart. His teams have a 152-85 record since joining the Division I ranks in 1999-00. Swanson is the program's longest tenured coach and is the all-time leader in coaching wins, (278) and winning percentage (.577). He also earned his first ever NEC Brenda Reilly Coach of the Year award after guiding SHU to a then school record 21 wins in 2003-04. Joe Frager (Connecticut `84) became Fairfield University's fifth head women's basketball coach last spring. Frager took over the Stags after spending the previous nine years at Southern Connecticut State University where he led the Owls to the Division II National Championship and a school record 34 wins in 2007. Prior to his stint at SCSU, Frager rang up a 208-58 record as the head coach at Seymour (CT) High School.

Pioneers vs. the MAAC... The Pioneers are 5-1 all-time against the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. SHU is 4-0 against the league over the last two seasons with two wins over Saint Peter's and wins at Iona and Rider. SHU lost to Iona and beat Rider at home in 2004-05. The Pioneers are 10-16 all-time against schools that are currently in the MAAC. SHU has faced Fairfield University more than any other team from the MAAC, posting a 4-7 record against the Stags during their Division II days. Iona holds a 5-2 mark over Sacred Heart while the Pioneers are 2-0 against Rider. Saint Peter's College is the only other team the Pioneers have faced from the league with the Peacocks 4-2 all-time against SHU.

Scouting the Stags... The Fairfield Stags got off to a strong start under first year head coach Joe Frager on Wednesday night, beating the Richmond Spiders, 72-57. The Stags returned all five of their starters from last year's 15-15 team. Back is the team's top-scorer in Sabra Wrice, an All-MAAC First Team pick last season. Wrice averaged 15.7 points per game. Junior Baendu Lowenthal was a second team All-MAAC selection last season after averaging 11.4 points and 6.1 rebounds per game. Sophomore Stephanie Geehan led the team in rebounding at 7.4 boards per game to earn a spot on the All-MAAC Rookie team. The Stags were picked second in the MAAC Preseason Coaches Poll. Both Wrice and Lowenthal were chosen to the All-MAAC Preseason teams.

Last Time Out... Sacred Heart junior center Kaitlin Sowinski scored 15 points but the Pioneers shot just 27.1% (16-of-59) from the field, falling at the hands of the Stony Brook Seawolves, 52-47, Wednesday night. The Pioneer's offensive struggles continued hitting just three-of-15 from behind the arc while committing 15 turnovers. The Pioneers were plagued in the first half by poor shooting, hitting just five-of-29 (.172) in the half. Their saving grace was 12 trips to the free throw line where they hit eight, led by Khalia Cain's five-of-six. As poor as the SHU offense was, Stony Brook could only manage a degree better; hitting eight-of-18, but 14 turnovers prevented the Seawolves from opening a big lead. The Pioneers endured a seven-minute, 0-9 stretch that ended with 23 second left in the half but SBU went into the locker room up five, 24-19. SHU cut the Seawolf lead to three, 26-23, with a pair of lay-ups out of the half but a Stony Brook 11-5 run over the next six minutes built the biggest lead of the night at nine, 37-28. The Pioneers put together their best spurt of the night out of the last media time-out to get back within three in the closing seconds. SHU's Lisa Moray buried her first three of the season to get the Pioneers to within 50-47 with 24 ticks left but out of the ensuing time-out, Stony Brook's Dana Ferraro broke behind the SHU defense on the inbound and streaked in for an uncontested lay-up to ice the game, 52-47. In addition to her 15 points, Sowinski finished with four rebounds and a block and a steal. Cain scored nine points and passed out five assists with three steals in the loss. Ferraro added 12 rebounds to her 13 points for a double double while Aly Young led all scorers with 14 points and 11 boards for a matching double dip.

Early Offensive Struggles... Just two games into the 2007-08 season and the Pioneers are searching for some offensive answers. The Pioneers are shooting just 28.4% (33-116) through the first two games. SHU shot 29.8% at Rhode Island and 27.1% at Stony Brook, both losses. The Pioneers have hit just four-of-33 from behind the three-point arc in the first two games. SHU's 43 and 47 points was the first time the Pioneers have scored 50 or fewer points in back to back games since the 2001-02 season. That year, they lost three-straight at the 50-point mark or below: at Cincinnati, 75-42; at Ohio State, 87-50; at New Hampshire, 75-45. The last time they lost two-straight scoring under 50 points, the 1991-92 season when they fell to UMass-Lowell, 86-49, and Pace, 60-46.

Sowinski off to a Solid Start... Junior center Kaitlin Sowinski has been a bright spot offensively early on. Sowinski notched a double double, 13 points and 11 rebounds, in the season opener at Rhode Island. She followed that with 15 points, four boards, a steal and a block at Stony Brook last time out at Stony Brook. The 2006-07 season was a break-out year for Sowinski who returned this year as the Pioneer's leading scorer. Sowinski started 30 of the 32 games averaging 11.2 points and 6.1 rebounds per game last year and was second in the NEC in blocked shots, turning away 87 shots. She was also second in the league in field goal percentage, hitting 55.8% (140-251) from the field on the season.

Ryan Takes on Her Old Mates... Junior Stephanie Ryan is two games into her Pioneer career as she faces her old squad on Sunday. Ryan sat out all of 2006-07 under the NCAA transfer rules after playing her freshman and sophomore years across town at Fairfield University. As a freshman for the Stags, Ryan led the team with 27 three-point field goals and sank 77.4 percent (24-31) at the free throw line. Her sophomore season, she played in 27 games making 14 starts while averaging 5.9 points per game with 106 rebounds (3.6 rpg), 29 assists and 23 steals. Ryan hit 14 treys on the year and shot 67.8% (40-59) at the free throw line.