GRAND LAKE, Colo. – Fairfield University Women's Lacrosse has received team and individual academic honors from the Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association (IWLCA), as announced today by the organization. The 2018 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Champions were recognized as an Academic Honor Squad with eight student-athletes tabbed for the Division I Academic Honor Roll.
 
To earn Academic Honor Squad status, a team must have earned a 3.0 team GPA for the 2017-18 academic year. The Stags posted a 3.27 GPA for the year, led by 15 student-athletes to garner Dean's List honors in at least one semester with a term GPA of 3.5 or higher. All nine MAAC Women's Lacrosse programs and 25 of the 27 NCAA Championship qualifiers from this past spring were among the list of teams from the Division I ranks to attain Academic Honor Squad laurels.
 
In addition, a MAAC-leading eight Fairfield student-athletes qualified for the IWLCA Division I Academic Honor Roll: Erin Bauman, Ali Biolsi, Lily Crager, Katie FitzPatrick, Kelly Holt, Taylor Mitchell, Kelly Pizzirani and Bridget Weill. To be eligible for this honor, a student-athlete must have been a junior, senior or graduate student during the 2018 lacrosse season and must hold a cumulative GPA of 3.50 or greater.
 
All eight of the aforementioned Stags were also 2018 MAAC All-Academic Team selections and were among the 187 Stags recently recognized on the MAAC Academic Honor Roll.
 
"While we are thrilled to be celebrating a MAAC Championship this year, I am equally proud to be celebrating our student-athletes' performance in the classroom as they set the standard in the MAAC and held in step nationally with 24 of our fellow NCAA postseason teams," said Head Coach Laura Field. "Our expectation has always been that you don't have to sacrifice your standards in the classroom to achieve on the field. Recognition for our eight individual honorees and for the entire team's effort in the classroom are both great rewards for doing things the right way."
 
Brown, Stanford and Yale led the Division I Academic Honor Roll roster with 10 selections apiece. The Stags join Denver, Maryland, Mercer, Northwestern, Penn State and Stanford as the seven 2018 NCAA Championship qualifiers to boast eight or more honorees.
 
Fairfield Women's Lacrosse won the fourth MAAC Championship in program history in 2018, finishing with a 13-7 final record. The Stags also won a share of their 11th MAAC Regular Season Championship this past spring.