FAIRFIELD, Conn. – The Fairfield University women's lacrosse team heads to Niagara on Saturday for the first round of the 2016 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Championships. The No.5 seeded Stags will take on the fourth seeded Purple Eagles at noon.   

No. 5 Fairfield (8-8, 4-4 MAAC) vs. No. 4 Niagara (9-8, 5-3 MAAC): The Stags and Purple Eagles will meet on Saturday for the 20th time in program history. Fairfield is 18-1 against Niagara. Last Saturday, April 23, the Purple Eagles topped Fairfield, 9-7, at Rafferty Stadium.

Scouting the Purple Eagles: Niagara finished the season 5-3 in the MAAC. Most recently, the Purple Eagles fell to Canisius 13-2 on Wednesday evening. Overall, the team is led offensively by freshman Caroline Crump with 45 points off a team high 31 goals and 14 assists. When Niagara visited Fairfield earlier in the season, it was junior attack Taylor Wolf leading the team with two goals and an assist in the win. In cage, junior Andrea Francisco has made all 17 starts for the Purple Eagles. She posts a 9.97 goals against average to go along with 114 saves.

Last Time Out: The team closed out the regular season with a 13-8 victory over Manhattan. Seven Stags notched a point in the win with Alex Fehmel leading the team with six. Julieanne Mascera had three points while Riley Hellstein, Lily Crager, Brenna Connolly, Kelly Camardo, and Taylor Mitchell all had two points. The Stags defense held the Jaspers to just three goals in the second half and forced 18 turnovers throughout the game. Chelsey Sidaras played all 60 minutes, making seven saves in the game.

Racking Up the Points: Junior Alex Fehmel has now tallied at least one point in 37 straight contests after recording five goals and an assist against Manhattan. The midfielder leads the team with 45 points off 33 goals and 12 assists.

Controlling the Draw: Senior Colleen Reynolds has done an outstanding job all season long collecting draw controls. The midfielder has racked up 52, just two shy of most in a single season in Fairfield history.

Looking Ahead: If the Stags are able to beat the Purple Eagles they will advance to the semifinal round on May 6 in Buffalo, New York. If Monmouth beats Iona in the other first round matchup then Fairfield would meet the top seed, Canisius. But if Iona pulls off the upset, then the Stags would face second seeded Marist in the semifinals.