FAIRFIELD, Conn. – Fairfield University Women's Lacrosse concludes the 2018 regular season on Wednesday with a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) outing at Manhattan beginning at 6 p.m. The Stags would clinch a share of the MAAC Regular Season Championship with a victory over the Jaspers.
 
The Stags (9-6, 5-2 MAAC) are currently locked in a five-way tie atop the conference standings alongside Canisius, Marist, Monmouth and Niagara. Fairfield controls its own destiny to finish as high as third with a win on Wednesday but may climb as high as the #1 seed pending other results around the league as the regular season wraps up.
 
In their most recent outing, the Stags knocked off host Canisius on Saturday by a score of 11-8. Brenna Connolly led the attack with six points by way of two goals and four assists. With that effort, she pulls even with Kristen Coleman atop the Fairfield record book with 71 career assists. Connolly also extended her program single-season record to 32 assists this spring. Coupled with her 28 goals in 2018, she has posted the ninth 60-point campaign in Fairfield Women's Lacrosse history.
 
The Stags' offense also benefitted from hat tricks for Diana DeVita and Kelly Horning. Both rookies also doled out an assist to post four points apiece on the day.
 
On the other end of the field, Paulina DiFatta made 12 saves in the cage. Coupled with her 11-save outing in last Wednesday's 12-9 win at Iona, she was lauded for her performance as the MAAC Defensive Player and Rookie of the Week.
 
Anchored by DiFatta's 12 saves on Saturday, the Fairfield defense held Canisius to its lowest scoring output in a MAAC regular season game since the Stags defeated the Griffs, 12-8, on April 10, 2011. The defense in front of the cage included three caused turnovers and five ground balls from Kathleen Hulseman and a pair of caused turnovers by co-captain Katie FitzPatrick. Megan Beach drew the assignment of marking the MAAC's leading scorer in Jourdan Roemer, who was limited to just one goal by Fairfield's stifling defense.
 
The Manhattan Jaspers are 5-10 overall and 2-5 in the MAAC. Should Monmouth defeat Iona earlier in the day on Wednesday, the Jaspers would take the field needing a win to secure a MAAC postseason berth. Manhattan has been led offensively by 45 points (29g, team-high 16a) from Molly Fitzpatrick. Sara Lang is the Jaspers' leading goal scorer with 34 markers this spring. Nikki Prestiano has played the majority of the minutes in the cage, posting an 11.21 goal against average and a .449 save percentage.
 
The 2018 MAAC Championship begins on Saturday, April 28 with the #3 and #4 seeds hosting the #6 and #5 seeds, respectively. The two advancing teams will join the #1 and #2 seeds the following weekend for the semifinals and finals hosted by the top-seeded team on May 3 and 5.
 
Visit FairfieldStags.com and follow @FairfieldStags and @StagsWomensLax on Twitter for updates on the playoff picture as details are finalized by the MAAC office.