FAIRFIELD, Conn. – The Fairfield University women's lacrosse team will travel to Bethlehem, Pa. to take on Lehigh on Saturday, February 28 for their first contest on the road this season. The game is slated for 1:00 p.m. at the Ulrich Sports Complex.
Fairfield (2-1) vs. Lehigh: The Stags are 6-6 all-time against the Mountain Hawks in a series dating back to 1998. Fairfield is currently on a four game winning-streak against Lehigh, with the last season's 7-5 victory on March 3 in Fairfield, Conn. In that contest, Julieanne Mascera, Jamie Leone, and Riley Hellstein all netted goals for Fairfield while goalkeeper Chelsey Sidaras manned the net for the Stags, making one save.
Scouting the Mountain Hawks: Lehigh is currently 2-1 on the season, and is coming off a 14-7 victory over Niagara last Sunday. The Mountain Hawks have posted a victory over UC Davis and have fallen to No. 10 Penn State. Lehigh returns standouts Carli Sukonik and Allison LaBeau. Last season, Sukonik scored 32 goals with five assists for a total of 37 points while LaBeau tallied 29 goals with nine assists to total 38 points. This year, Sukonik is the Mountain Hawks' leading scorer, tallying eight goals. Sophomore goalkeeper Taylor Tvedt will be charged with keeping the ball out the net for Lehigh. Tvedt has tallied 14 saves with a save percentage of .412.
Last Time Out: The Fairfield women's lacrosse team edged Rutgers, 11-10, in an exciting contest on Saturday, February 21 at Rafferty Stadium. In that game, senior captain Jamie Leone recorded a hat trick for the Stags, who also received goals from Julieanne Mascera, Alex Fehmel, Colleen Reynolds, Maeve Quinn, Jenna Fuchs, and Scarlett Sulliman. Goalkeeper Chelsey Sidaras tallied six saves for Fairfield.
Ready for Rafferty: The Fairfield men's and women's lacrosse teams will celebrate their inaugural season at Rafferty Stadium throughout the spring of 2015. The construction of Rafferty Stadium was made possible through the generosity of Fairfield alumni, parents and friends. The stadium is named in recognition of the principal leadership gift from Larry Rafferty '64 and his family, and the field is named in recognition of a gift from Tim Conway '76 and family. Several other locations around the stadium are named to recognize major supporters and contributors to the project, who will be recognized along with additional donors on a plaque located inside the stadium.
Rafferty Stadium seats 3,500 fans in grandstands spanning both sidelines. The FieldTurf playing surface is complemented by state-of-the-art lighting, which provides optimal light levels for both competition and practice, and a Daktronics high-definition video scoreboard. In addition, the stadium includes a terrace level with a fully-enclosed press box that includes a large media suite, two VIP suites and a production suite to support the video capabilities of the scoreboard, television broadcasts and web streaming. On the ground level are two team rooms, food/beverage and apparel concessions, restrooms, a box office and entry plaza.
Looking Ahead: After Saturday's matchup, the Stags will bring action back home to Rafferty Stadium. Fairfield will host New Hampshire on Friday, March 6 at 3:00 p.m. before traveling to New Britain, Conn. to face Central Connecticut State on Friday, March 13 at 5:00 p.m.
Run with the Stags: Fairfield lacrosse season ticket packages and individual game tickets are available now. For more information and for group rates, please contact the athletics ticket office at StagsTickets@fairfield.edu or (203) 254-4136 or visit FairfieldStags.com/tix.
