Box Score

For the second time in three seasons the Fairfield University men's lacrosse team opened the year with a win, defeating Lafayette College 8-4 in Easton, Pa., Saturday afternoon. The Stags are 1-0 on the season, while the Leopards fall to 0-1.

Six different Stags scored goals on the afternoon, with both Doug Kuring and John Snellman touching net twice with an assist. Charlie Cipriano played the entire game in net for the Stags and made six of his 11 saves in the final quarter to earn the win. 

The Stags never trailed as Snellman got the offense going with a man-up goal midway through the first-half, from the stick of Kuring. Freshman Eric Warden netted a pass from Sam Snow 92 seconds later to give Fairfield a 2-0 edge that would last until halftime.

Snellman started the scoring in the second-half as well, putting in an unassisted goal for a 3-0 edge 38 seconds into the period. Lafayette finally got on the board 34 seconds later on a Tom Perini goal. Fairfield answered with three consecutive goals from Jordan Greenfield (9:19), Kuring (6:39) and Brent Adams (3:04). The Leopards scored the final goal of the third quarter with 2:34 to play to cut the deficit to 6-2 entering the final period. 

Matt Plominski scored an unassisted man-up goal 52 seconds into the final stanza to push the lead back to five goals, 7-2. The Stags would allow a pair of Lafayette goals at the 7:34 mark and with 3:58 to play, but Kuring would wrap up the scoring with a tally with 2:20 to play, unassisted, to secure the win.

Lafayette had a 29-21 edge in ground balls, as well as out shooting the Stags 35-27 for the game. Fairfield committed more turnovers, 22-16, while winning 7-16 face-offs on the day. Steve Golmont won 4-9 at the X for Fairfield, while Marshall Johnson went 3-7.

Fairfield continues its season opening road trip on February 26 when it plays at Bryant University.