FAIRFIELD, Conn. - The Fairfield University women's lacrosse team was edged by the University of New Hampshire, 9-7, this afternoon at Rafferty Stadium. Senior captain Courtney Chmil recorded a hat trick for the Stags, who also received goals from Alex Fehmel, Julieanne Mascera, and Jenna Fuchs.

Scoring started early, with Laura McHoul putting New Hampshire on the board at 27:36. Back-to-back goals by the Wildcats' Becca Graves, at 26:28 and 22:50 lifted the lead to 3-0. Fairfield answered with a set of unassisted consecutive goals by Mascera and Fehmel, at 18:33 and 17:00 respectively, to narrow the gap.  

The two teams went one-for-one for the next four goals, each about a minute apart. An unassisted goal by New Hampshire's Rachael Nock made the score 4-2, at 16:17. The Stags responded with Chmil netting her first goal of the game at 15:08. At 14:03, the Wildcats' Krissy Schafer scored, off a free position shot, before Fuchs found the back of the net, off a feed from Jamie Leone, at 13:00.

Play continued for the next eight minutes, until McHoul scored her second goal of the game at 4:49. The Wildcats were able to score once more in the first half, taking a 7-4 advantage into halftime.

The second half started much like the first, with New Hampshire scoring the first goal at 26:15. Both teams continued to battle until Chmil netted her second goal of the game, off a pass from Maeve Quinn, at 11:01. The Stags picked up the pace, with Fehmel scoring her second goal of the game about half a minute later. At 8:23, Chmil scored off a free position shot to narrow the gap to 8-7. The final goal came at 4:14, when New Hampshire's McHoul found the back of the net. The Stags continued to battle but were unable to score, yielding a 9-7 victory for the Wildcats.

Junior goalkeeper Chelsey Sidaras manned the net for the Stags, making nine saves, while New Hampshire's Kate Clancy tallied five.

The Wildcats outshot the Stags 24-14, had an 18-15 advantage in ground balls, and an 11-7 advantage in draw controls. Meghan Reda had a team-high five ground balls while Colleen Reynolds recorded a team-high three draw controls.

For New Hampshire, Kayleigh Hinkle picked up three ground balls and two draw controls while McHoul had one ground ball and a team-high four draw controls.

Fairfield (3-5) will take action on the road. The Stags will travel to New Britain, Conn. on Friday, March 13 to take on Central Connecticut State at 5:00 p.m. before hosting UConn on Wednesday, March 18 at 3:00 p.m.