FAIRFIELD, Conn. – Led by a combined nine points from juniors Alex Fehmel and Riley Hellstein the Fairfield University women's lacrosse team held off Niagara in the MAAC Tournament First Round, 9-7, to advance to the Semifinals.

A week after falling to the Purple Eagles, 9-7, the Stags were able to come out with the two goal victory the second time around. A second half surge, pulled the home team within two with under five minutes to play, but Fairfield held strong and came out with the win.

As has been the case all season long, Fairfield jumped out to an early lead scoring the first two goals. First Jenna Fuchs got on the board, then Fehmel got her first goal with an assist by Hellstein.

Niagara got on the board with a goal about halfway through the period to make the score 2-1, but the Stags then rolled off four straight goals to take a commanding 6-1 lead. Hellstein notched her 36^th of the year at the 11:42 mark. Then Maeve Quinn tallied her only goal of the day. To close out the scoring run, Fairfield got scores from Fehmel and Julieanne Mascera.

With under a minute to play before the end of the first half, the Purple Eagles got a goal from Alexis Morales to make the halftime score, 6-2 in favor of the visitors.

Out of the break, Fehmel wasted no time increasing the Stags lead. Hellstein followed suit with a goal one minute later to put the Stags up 8-2.

With 15:50 left to play, Niagara would start their 5-1 run to cut the lead to two. But with under five minutes left to play, the Stags would control play and not allow another goal, preserving their 9-7 lead.  

Fehmel led the Stags offense with five points off four goals and one assist. Hellstein added four points, with two goals and two assists. Fuchs, Mascera, and Quinn each added one goal on the day.

Chelsey Sidaras faced 18 shots, making six saves on the day. Scarlett Sulliman played all over the field and saw her name all over the stat sheet with five groundballs, two caused turnovers, and one draw control.

"I couldn't be more proud of the effort from the entire team today," said Head Coach Laura Field. "It wasn't the cleanest game, but we found a way to lean on each other to pull away with the win. The defense was tremendous in shutting down their offense in the first half and the effort of the upperclass on offense was spectacular."

With the win, the Stags will match up with No. 1 Canisius on Firday, May 6^th at 8:00 pm in Buffalo, N.Y. in the MAAC Semifnals.