NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. - The Fairfield University women's lacrosse team downed Iona College, 16-4, in their second Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) contest this season on Mazzella Field. Senior Melanie Raso set a new program record for draw controls.  

At 21:33 in the first half, Raso tallied her second draw control of the game, surpassing Fairfield's program record of 141 set by Chloe Mangan, to bring her career total to 143.

Raso and Jenna Slowey scored four goals apiece for Fairfield while rookie Riley Hellstein netted three. Alex Fehmel scored twice and the Stags also received goals from Julieanne Mascera, Kaitlyn Arnold, and Colleen Reynolds.

Leone found Slowey to put the Stags on the board early at 27:45. Fairfield went on a 4-0 run with unassisted goals coming from Hellstein, Reynolds, and Mascera at 25:46, 23:49, and 21:39 respectively. About 10 minutes later, Hellstein netted her second goal of the game, off a pass from Leone, to give the Stags a 5-0 advantage over the Gaels.

Back-to-back goals by Raso, at 7:24 and 6:06, brought the game to 7-0 before Mary Kate McCormick scored Iona's first goal at 5:45. Fairfield answered with a goal by Slowey about one minute later. The goal was assisted by Maeve Quinn. Raso tallied her third goal of the game at 3:23, off a free position shot. With just two seconds left in the half, Leone again found Slowey, giving the Stags a 10-1 lead into halftime.    

Fairfield came out strong in the second half, scoring the first goal. The Gaels battled back, with Meghan Testoni netting a goal, off a pass from McCormick, at 20:14. Almost two minutes later, Slowey scored her third goal, bringing the score to 12-2. Iona answered with a goal by Erin Pugh at 14:50.

The Stags kept the intensity with a 4-0 run, with two goals from Fehmel and one each from Raso and Arnold. The first goal was netted by Raso at 10:36 while the next two followed from Fehmel at 9:16 and 7:46. Arnold scored her unassisted goal at 7:29 before Iona netted the final goal of the game with just 1:52 left to play. The Gaels were unable to score again, handing Fairfield their third straight win in a 16-4 decision.  

The Stags outshot the Gaels 29-17 and had a slight 23-20 advantage in ground balls. Sophomore Chelsey Sidaras and rookie Caleigh O'Connor split time in the net for Fairfield. Sidaras made eight saves while O'Connor recorded two. Iona's Maria Ortiz tallied six saves on the day while Thea Leitman recorded four.

It was a group effort from Fairfield, with five other rookies checking into their second straight game. Brenna Weill, Kaileen O'Donnell, Brittany Danielewski, and Sally O'Toole all saw time for the Stags while Riley Smith tallied one draw control for Fairfield.

For the Gaels, McCormick, Pugh, Testoni, and Brancaccio tallied one goal apiece. McCormick added two assists and two ground balls while Angela Grous picked up six ground balls and recorded four draw controls for Iona.

Fairfield (7-3) will take MAAC play on the road. The Stags will travel to Manhattan on April 5.