BUFFALO, N.Y. – Sophomore Riley Hellstein posted a hat trick to lead the Fairfield University women's lacrosse team to an exciting 8-7 victory over Monmouth University in the semifinal round of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Championship Tournament at the Demske Sports Complex. Julieanne Mascera tallied two for Fairfield who also received goals from Maeve Quinn, Courtney Chmil, and Jenna Fuchs. The all around team effort improved the Stags record to 13-4 and advances the squad to the MAAC Championship Game, Sunday at noon, for the first time since 2012.
The Stags' started off strong, with Hellstein grabbing the first draw control of the game to give Fairfield an offensive possession. Play continued for the next 11 minutes, with repeated turnovers from both teams, until Monmouth was awarded a free position attempt, which went wide. A turnover caused by Melissa Laible, gave Fairfield a possession which resulted in the first goal of the game from Fuchs. The goal put the Stags on the board at 15:41 and was assisted by Quinn.
Over the next ten minutes, Fairfield was able to keep possession on Monmouth's defensive end. The Stags were up by two goals after Mascera netted a free position goal at 11:02. Mascera grabbed the following draw control to once again, put Fairfield on offense. Shortly after a save from the Hawks' goalkeeper Katie Donohoe, Mascera forced a turnover which allowed Colleen Reynolds to grab a ground ball. After two shots from the Stags, Hellstein found the back of the net, off a feed from Alex Fehmel at 6:53.
For the next seven minutes, an impressive defensive effort from the Stags held the Hawks from finding the back of the net. Both a save by goalkeeper Chelsey Sidaras and a blocked free position shot by Monmouth's Olivia Higson allowed the Stags to shutout the Hawks in the first half. Fairfield took a 3-0 advantage into halftime.
The second half started much like the first with Fairfield quickly gaining offensive possession as Mascera scooped the first draw control. After a few quick turnovers, the Stags' Laible grabbed a ground ball put Fairfield back on offense. A pair of back-to-back goals at 28:09 and 27:30 extended the Stags' lead to five goals. The first was unassisted by Chmil while the second was netted by Quinn, off a pass from Hellstein.
About one minute later, the Hawks' Claudia LaMarca scored to hault Fairfield's 5-0 run and put Monmouth on the board. Play continued for the next three and a half minutes, until Marial Pierce found the back of the net to make the score 5-2. Fairfield answered with a second goal from Hellstein, off a feed from Quinn, at 21:17.
Monmouth (12-6) picked up momentum, scoring three consecutive goals at 17:01, 16:17, and 9:52 to narrow the gap to 6-5. The first goal was unassisted by Higson while the next two were scored by Pierce and LaMarca off of free position shots. Play continued for two minutes until Mascera scored her second goal of the game to restore a two-goal lead for the Stags.
Both teams continued to battle for the next three minutes until another set of back-to-back goals by Monmouth's Higson and Pierce tied the game at 7-7 with 4:29 left to play. Hellstein netted the final, game-winning goal off a feed from Mascera at 3:38. Despite a final shot from the Hawks' Pierce which was saved by Sidaras with just 34 seconds left, neither team was able to score sealing an 8-7 victory for the Stags.
Fairfield outshot Monmouth 23-19, had a 20-17 advantage in ground balls, and a 12-5 advantage in draw controls. Hellstein grabbed a game-high six draw controls and the Stags' defense caused seven turnovers. Sidaras tallied seven saves while the Hawks' Donohoe recorded eight on the day.
Fairfield will be playing in its sixth MAAC Championship Game on Sunday, May 3; a game which can be seen on Time Warner Cable / ESPN3 and will begin at noon. The Stags will face either top-seeded Canisius or fifth-seeded Marist in the title game. The Griffs won last year's championship and Marist was the Stags opponent in the three prior championship games.
