FAIRFIELD, Conn. – The Fairfield University women's lacrosse team heads to Manhattan on Wednesday at 3:00 pm for their final regular season game of 2016. The Stags will be fighting for playoff position as they can still finish the season either fifth or sixth in the standings.
Fairfield (7-8, 3-4 MAAC) vs. Manhattan (4-12, 0-7 MAAC): The Stags and Jaspers will meet on Wednesday for the 22nd time in program history. Fairfield is 16-5 against Niagara all-time. Last season, Fairfield topped the Jaspers 12-3 on March 21st.
Scouting the Jaspers: Manhattan is 0-7 in the MAAC this season. Most recently, the Jaspers fell to Quinnipiac 12-8 on April 23. Senior attackers Stefanie Ranagan and Claire Roediger lead the team with 38 points apiece. Ranagan also leads the team with 31 goals while Roediger has a team best 14 assists. Freshman goalkeeper Nikki Prestiano has made 12 starts for the Jaspers this season. The netminder posts an 11.38 goals against average and 88 saves.
Last Time Out: The team dropped a close 9-7 decision to Niagara on Senior Day. The opening minutes started as a back and forth affair with the two sides trading goals. Fairfield would go on a four goal run to build a 6-3 edge with nearly seven minutes left in the first half. Niagara then started to close the gap, recording the next two goals to cut the lead to one. Colleen Reynolds pushed the Stags lead back to two with a goal with just 10 seconds remaining in the first half. Unfortunately for the home side, that would be their final tally of the afternoon. Niagara controlled the pace of play in the second half and tied the score at seven all just five minutes into the frame. The Purple Eagles defense really took over in the second half, not allowing a Stag goal in the final 30 minutes of action. Fairfield was held to just seven shots total in the second period.
Racking Up the Points: Two Stags now have double digit point streaks after Saturday's loss to Niagara. Julieanne Mascera was unable to tally a point, ending her streak at 26 games. Colleen Reynolds pushed her own point streak to 10, with a goal against the Purple Eagles. And junior Alex Fehmel had two goals in the last game and has now tallied at least one point in 36 straight contests.
Looking Ahead: The Stags will be heading to the MAAC Tournament for the 10th year in a row. Heading into their final regular season matchup, Fairfield sits in sixth place in the conference standings. With a win and an Iona loss, they will jump up to the fifth spot. But if Iona tops Monmouth then the Stags will remain in the final playoff position.
