Box Score

FAIRFIELD, Conn. – Charlie Schnider racked up six points and Colin McLinden distributed four assists to lead the Fairfield University men's lacrosse team past Manhattan, 15-4, on Saturday at Rafferty Stadium. TJ Neubauer added a hat trick for the Stags in the non-conference victory.

Schnider paced Fairfield (2-1) with five goals. Neubauer notched an assist to go along with his trio of goals, and Tristan Sperry scored two goals and handed out three assists.

Rounding out the Stags' offense were goals from Joe Rodrigues, Dave Fleming, Cameron Parker, Drew Federico and Drew Murray. Parker's tally was the first of his collegiate career.

In the midfield, Neubauer and Louis DiGiacomo each scooped up five ground balls. DiGiacomo was also a force in the faceoff 'X' with 11 wins on 15 attempts. Will Fox added a 4-for-5 day in the 'X'.

Andrew Eidenshink caused three turnovers with three ground balls in the defensive zone, while Brad Nordstrom made four saves en route to victory. Tyler Behring and Daniel Costa also both saw time between the posts in relief of the freshman netminder.

As a unit, the Stags outshot Manhattan (0-3), 50-14, and picked up 38 ground balls to the Jaspers' 18. Fairfield committed 12 turnovers while pressuring the visitors into 20 miscues.

The Stags never trailed in the contest, as Schnider picked up the first two goals of the afternoon. Neubauer got into the scoring act shortly thereafter and, following a Manhattan goal by Nick Stutler, Schnider completed his first-quarter hat trick and staked Fairfield to a 4-1 lead after 15 minutes of action.

Though the Jaspers struck first in the second quarter to cut the deficit to 4-2, Fairfield would light the lamp three times in the final five minutes of the half. Schnider started the streak with his fourth goal of the day, and Sperry added two tallies less than three minutes apart to send the Stags into the locker room holding a 7-2 lead.

A man-up goal just 83 seconds into the second half capped Schnider's scoring day, and was followed less than one minute later by a goal from Murray. After Kevin Cox scored to end the Jaspers' scoring drought at 18:12 of game time, Fairfield quickly took that goal back on a Federico goal. Neubauer tacked on two more – including a man-up goal – to extend the lead to 12-3 before a late Jaspers' goal ended the third quarter with Fairfield in front, 12-4.

Three more Stags' goals accounted for all of the fourth quarter scoring as markers from Rodrigues, Fleming and Parker capped off the 15-4 triumph.

After his four-assist performance, McLinden stands in ninth place all-time in Fairfield lacrosse history with 115 career points. The senior midfielder-turned-attackman had six helpers in the Stags' overtime win at Yale last season.

Today's contest was originally scheduled to be played this evening in Riverdale, N.Y., but the forecast of inclement weather moved the action to Rafferty Stadium for an 11 a.m. outing. The Stags will now resume their road slate next Saturday, Feb. 28, with a noon trip to Stony Brook.

After trips to Yale (March 7) and Bucknell (March 10), Fairfield returns to the turf of Rafferty Stadium to host Colgate on Saturday, March 14. Tickets for the meeting with the Raiders and all five of the Stags' remaining 2015 home contests are available at FairfieldStags.com/tix.