FAIRFIELD, Conn. – Behind Riley Hellstein's second six-goal outing of the season, the Fairfield women's lacrosse team was able to outlast Sacred Heart 14-10 on Wednesday afternoon. Hellstein tied a career-high with six goals and set a new career-high with seven points, adding one assist on the day.
Fairfield (3-2) jumped out to an early 5-0 lead just seven minutes into the contest. Maeve Quinn and Alex Fehmel got on the board with back to back free position goals, just 30 seconds apart. Hellstein added her first goal five minutes in, and Lily Crager scored her first career goal with a feed from Hellstein at the 24:32 mark. Fehmel added her second of the day to cap off the Stags' opening run.
Sacred Heart responded with three goals of their own to cut the lead to two, but Hellstein took back control with two unanswered scores of her own to give the visitors a four goal cushion.
Just before halftime with the score 7-4, Fehmel raced down the field to find Quinn curling around the crease. With a quick shot, Quinn was able to put it past the keeper with one second remaining and give Fairfield an 8-4 advantage at the break.
Brenna Connolly started the second stanza with her second goal of the season to give the Stags their largest lead of the day at 9-4.
The Pioneers wouldn't go away, continuing to score and pressure the Stags on defense. In total, Fairfield ended the day with 19 turnovers in part due to the hustle of the home side. Sacred Heart was credited with six caused turnovers officially.
After Sacred Heart cut the lead to 9-6, Fehmel notched her third of the day and Crager scored her second to again push the lead to five.
Two more goals from the Pioneers would bring them within three, but Hellstein capped off her day with three straight goals. This borught her season total to 18, and left the Stags with a healthy advantage with only a few minutes to play.
Fairfield ended the day firing off 24 shots, collecting 16 ground balls, and winning off the draw 16-9.
Senior Chelsey Sidaras played a huge game in net, making key stops on a few point blank shots, she finished the day with eight saves. The defense around her caused 11 total turnovers led by three each from Melissa Laible and Julieanne Mascera.
On offense the Stags were led by seven points from Hellstein, followed by Fehmel with five (3 goals, 2 assists). Mascera, Quinn, and Crager each had two points on the day, while Connolly posted one to round out the Fairfield scorers.
“It was a great performance today from Riley. We still have some work to do to clean up some unforced errors heading into the next stretch of competition, but it was nice to get some new players in the mix and we're happy to come out with the win,” said Head Coach Laura Field.
The team will next head to Durham, New Hampshire to face the University of New Hampshire on Saturday at noon.
