Fairfield University's field hockey team spent the 2026 season in a new conference, and it finished that season holding the conference trophy. The Stags beat Monmouth 2-1 in the Coastal Athletic Association final on Friday, Nov. 6, in Philadelphia, giving the program its first CAA championship in its first year as a member.

The title came on top of the CAA regular-season crown, which Fairfield also won. That makes it a clean sweep of the league's two trophies in the team's debut season, and it sent the Stags back to the NCAA tournament for the third straight year.

Two goals, 75 seconds apart

The final was decided in the fourth quarter. Camille Perlov, of the Class of 2028, scored both of Fairfield's goals, and the university says the two came 75 seconds apart. Monmouth scored once, and the Stags held on.

Kylie Corcoran, also of the Class of 2028, was named the championship's Most Valuable Player after a goal and an assist across the tournament. Perlov and Corcoran were joined on the All-Championship team by two graduate students, Rylee LaLoup and Alice Pifferi, both of the Class of 2026.

Head coach Laura Gebhart was named the 2026 CAA Coach of the Year. It is her second coach of the year award in two seasons on the Fairfield sideline: in 2025, her first year leading the program, the Northeast Conference gave her the same honor.

Why the move to the CAA mattered

Fairfield announced in January that field hockey would join the CAA as an associate member starting with the 2026 season. The rest of the university's teams compete elsewhere; field hockey moved on its own. With Fairfield added, the league's field hockey roster grew to seven: Drexel, Hofstra, Monmouth, Northeastern, Towson, William & Mary and Fairfield.

When the move was announced, the athletic department and the conference both framed it as a step up in competition, and Gebhart pointed out that the Stags were already playing many CAA opponents in their nonconference schedule. The 2026 calendar included six CAA games.

The team arrived with momentum. In 2025, its last year in the Northeast Conference, Fairfield went 9-0 in league play, won the NEC regular-season title, and then won the NEC tournament, beating Wagner 3-0 in a final played at University Field on the Fairfield campus. That was the program's second straight NEC title and its fourth in seven seasons in that league. The Stags finished 2025 at 16-6 after beating Boston University 1-0 in the NCAA first round at Princeton, a game LaLoup decided, and then falling to second-seeded Princeton in the second round.

The NCAA tournament, again

The CAA title carried an automatic NCAA berth, Fairfield's third in a row and the eighth in program history. The Stags met Wagner, the Northeast Conference champion, in the NCAA opening round in College Park, Maryland, and lost 1-0. It was a rematch of the 2025 NEC final, with the result reversed.

The season still ends with something new in the record book: the first conference championship in Fairfield's new league, won in the first year it was available to win.

Where the team plays

Fairfield University sits on North Benson Road in the town of Fairfield, a short drive from the Merritt Parkway and from the Fairfield Metro and Fairfield stations on Metro-North's New Haven Line. Field hockey plays its home games at University Field on campus.

Several of the players at the center of this title will be back. Perlov and Corcoran are both in the Class of 2028, which means two more seasons for the pair who decided the final and the tournament MVP award between them. LaLoup and Pifferi, the graduate students on the All-Championship team, finish their college careers as conference champions.

Following the Stags

Fairfield Athletics posts schedules, results and rosters for field hockey and every other varsity sport at fairfieldstags.com. The 2027 schedule has not been announced. Check the athletics site for home dates and admission before you go.

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