BALTIMORE – Fairfield University Women's Lacrosse saw its MAAC Championship season come to an end on Friday afternoon in the 2018 NCAA Championship First Round. The Stags were upended, 18-2, by eighth-seeded and #9/10 nationally-ranked Loyola Maryland at the Greyhounds' Ridley Athletic Complex in Baltimore.
 
Fairfield (13-7) was making its third appearance in the NCAA Championship on the heels of its fourth MAAC crown. The Stags also won a share of their 11th MAAC Regular Season Championship this spring. Loyola Maryland (16-4) advances to meet either #7 Navy or #20 Johns Hopkins on Sunday in the NCAA Championship Second Round.
 
The Fairfield goals came courtesy of Taylor Mitchell and Olivia Russell. Mitchell's goal was her team-leading 40th of the season, while Russell tallied her 37th marker of 2018 in her final collegiate outing.
 
Brenna Connolly handed out an assist to cap her 2018 campaign with a program-record 42 assists. Connolly's total also ranks fifth in MAAC single-season history. With 77 points this spring, she ties for fourth place on the Fairfield single-season chart. Connolly, who was named to the IWLCA All-Northeast Region Second Team earlier today, will leave Fairfield as the program's all-time leader with 81 career assists.
 
In the cage, Paulina DiFatta concluded her first active campaign with a program-record 211 saves after her nine stops this afternoon. The defense in front of her was led by two draw controls and two ground balls for Maggie Reynolds and two caused turnovers and three ground balls collected by Katie FitzPatrick.
 
Erin Mammele wrapped up her historic season on the draw with four draw controls. She closes her junior campaign as the owner of Fairfield's single-season (123) and career (217) standards.
 
Livy Rosenzweig led the Greyhounds with four goals and two assists and one of eight goal scorers for the hosts. Frankie Kamely added a hat trick and dished out one helper. Kady Glynn made 16 saves in the cage.
 
DiFatta kept the Stags within reach early, making seven first-half saves to go along with two caused turnovers and three ground balls. However, her counterpart in the cage was also impressive as Loyola's Glynn turned away the first 10 shots she saw over the 26 minutes of the afternoon before Mitchell finished a feed from Connolly to end a 7-0 run and put the Stags on the board.  The Greyhounds added a pair of late markers in the frame as Fairfield headed to the locker room trailing by a count of 10-1.
 
Loyola Maryland added the first four goals of the second half before Russell broke through with an unassisted marker with just over 14 minutes to play. The Greyhounds capped the scoring with four more in the second period to round out the final at 18-2.
 
"I want to highlight our effort – specifically our seniors, who played the whole game and never gave up in a tough scenario," said Head Coach Laura Field. "I think Erin did a really good job on the draw, Paulina stood on her head at times, and we created a lot of turnovers. The biggest thing is for today to be a first step. We got a taste of it, and now we need to build on it."
 
Today's game marked the final contest in the collegiate careers of seniors Brooke Gallagher, Brenna Connolly, Erin Bauman, Katie FitzPatrick, Kelly Holt, Lauren Martinelli, Olivia Russell and Mary Smyth, who were part of Fairfield's 2015 and 2018 MAAC Championships. The Stags are set to return 23 members of this year's squad for the 2019 campaign.