FAIRFIELD, Conn. – The Fairfield University women's lacrosse team made it three wins in a row with a 16-6 victory over the University of New Hampshire on Saturday afternoon. Riley Hellstein again led the charge as she set a new career-high in points and goals. The junior midfielder tallied nine points while putting away seven goals and tallying two assists. Not to be outdone she also grabbed a game-high four draw controls.
In a game that was dominated by Fairfield, it was Hellstein who set the pace for the Stags scoring less than one minute into the contest. The Wildcats tried to hang around early, keeping the score within one or two throughout much of the first half. But with 17:07 left in the first, Hellstein's third goal of the day sparked a 7-1 run for Fairfield as they would close the half up 10-3.
The run consisted of four different Fairfield scorers, following Hellstein, Lily Crager snatched a pass from Maeve Quinn for her third goal of the season. Julieanne Mascera was able to tally two unassisted goals at 15:11 and 12:05. And Quinn closed out the first half with back to back goals, the first from Brenna Connolly and the second from Hellstein.
With a seven goal halftime advantage, the Stags showed no sign of slowing down as Quinn opened the second half scoring with her third goal of the day.
With 21 minutes left to play, Hellstein once again sparked a scoring streak, this time a 5-1 run to close out the game. The junior scored three more times for the Stags to put her at a career-high seven for the day. Mascera tallied her third of the contest with 13:25 to play. And the last goal came from freshman Taylor Mitchell, who notched her first career goal as the assist went to Erin Mammele for her first career point.
Looking at the stats, the Stags outshot UNH 33-19 and beat them on the draw control 14-9.
The defense fought hard and forced 13 Wildcat turnovers. Senior Chelsey Sidaras earned the start in net, making eight saves.
Behind Hellstein on offense was Quinn with four points (3 goals, 1 assist), Mascera with three (3g), and Connolly with two (2a). Colleen Reynolds, Alex Fehmel, Crager, Mammele, and Mitchell all finished the day with one point.
“Today was an outstanding performance across the board," said Head Coach Laura Field. "We knew we would need complete effort from everyone to pull off a tough road win and we saw that in the efforts from every single person today. Riley continues to pace the offense, but the story of the day was the second effort and caused turnovers from our attackers and great team defense.”
The Stags have a week off before they head to Denver Colorado to face the Pioneers on Sunday, March 13 at 3:00 pm.
