FAIRFIELD, Conn. – The Fairfield University men's lacrosse team turned in a strong second half against No. 4 nationally-ranked Yale on Saturday afternoon, but was unable to overcome an early deficit in a 10-5 loss to the Bulldogs. The contest was televised on SportsNet New York (SNY) and in front of a live crowd of 2,456 fans – the largest crowd in the two-year history of Conway Field at Rafferty Stadium.
Fairfield (2-5) was led offensively by a hat trick from Colin Burke. The freshman attackman, who has scored at least one goal with two or more total points in each of the Stags' first seven games, leads the club with 17 goals and 21 points this spring.
Another new Stag – sophomore Charlie Horning – also contributed a three-point day to the offense with a goal and two assists. All eight of his points on the season have come in Fairfield's last four contests.
Rounding out the scoring was Jake Knostman with a man-up goal, and two assists from Charlie Schnider. Schnider leads Fairfield with 13 helpers on the year.
In the cage, Tyler Behring made 14 saves for the second consecutive game. The defense in front of the junior goalkeeper was led by three ground balls from Matt Borda and a pair scooped up by Spencer Noonan.
At the faceoff 'X', Joe DeLasho went a perfect 11-for-11. Will Fox also won two draws as the Stags went 13-for-17 on the day. Fairfield came away with all 10 faceoffs in the second half as it looked to mount a comeback against the Bulldogs.
Yale (5-0) was led by a five-point showing from Ben Reeves with two goals and three assists. Michael Keasey added a first-half hat trick for the Bulldogs.
Helming the goal for Yale was Phil Huffard. The national leader in goals-against average made 14 saves today with a strong defensive effort in front of him pressuring Fairfield into 17 turnovers. Yale has not allowed more than eight goals in a game this season.
A defensive-minded first quarter saw Keasey put Yale on top with two early goals. After his second marker at 8:37 in the opening frame, neither team would rattle the cage for the ensuing 16:48 of clock time. At that point, four different Bulldogs scored goals as a part of a late run that sent the visitors into the locker room with a 6-0 lead.
Fairfield came out firing in the second half, disrupting the shutout on a Horning goal at 13:04. After another stretch of over eight minutes without a goal, Yale scored at 4:22 in the third quarter. The Stags quickly responded as Burke's first of the day moved the score to 7-2 heading into the fourth frame.
Yale struck first in the final quarter, but back-to-back tallies by Burke and Knostman (man-up) cut the deficit to 8-4 with 6:19 to play. Yale thwarted the run with a Michael Bonacci goal, followed by Burke completed his hat trick to run the score to 9-5 with 2:57 left.
However, time continued to tick down on the Fairfield comeback attempt, and Reeves added a goal with 58 seconds to play against the vacated cage as Behring looked to force a turnover to round out the final score at 10-5.
The Stags are back in action next Saturday, March 19 for a noon contest at Colgate. The Raiders, who are currently 3-3 on the season, lost at Patriot League opponent Boston U. today and will host Cornell on Tuesday before welcoming the Stags to Andy Kerr Stadium.
Fairfield returns to Conway Field at Rafferty Stadium on Tuesday, March 22 to host in-state foe Quinnipiac under the lights at 7 p.m. The Bobcats stand at 3-1 with a game against Marquette on tap before their trip down I-95 to challenge the Stags.
