NIAGARA UNIVERSITY, N.Y. – Fairfield University Women's Lacrosse used an early flurry of goals to take a 10-4 lead at host Niagara and then shut down a late Purple Eagles comeback en route to a 13-10 victory. Brooke Gallagher led the attack with seven points in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference road victory.
 
With their second straight MAAC road win – and third consecutive triumph overall – the Stags improve to 7-3 overall and 2-0 in the conference. Niagara drops to 3-8 with an 0-2 MAAC tally.
 
"This was an outstanding effort against a tough Niagara team to pull out the road win. They gave us all we could handle with their five-goal run in the second half," said Head Coach Laura Field. "We got great performances on offense from our seniors – Brooke, Kathleen and Taylor – and we played lock down defense in the first half, including Megan Beach holding their leading scorer (Rachel MacCheyne) to just one goal for the game."
 
Gallagher's seven-point day was comprised of a career-high five goals and two assists. The graduate student leads Fairfield in all three scoring categories this season with 23 goals, 17 assists and 40 total points. She is currently riding a five-game point streak, scoring multiple goals in all five of those outings.
 
Taylor Mitchell added four goals, including the game-winner, and distributed an assist, with Kathleen Hulseman netting a pair. Rounding out the attack were Jillian Winwood and Diana DeVita with one goal apiece and Meaghan Graham with one assist.
 
The effort in the midfield was led by Kelly Horning, who collected five ground balls for the second consecutive game, and recorded a career-best five caused turnovers.
 
Beach and Maggie Reynolds each added three caused turnovers on the Fairfield backline, with Reynolds nabbing five ground balls and Beach scooping up three. Caroline Mangan added two caused turnovers and two ground balls.
 
In the cage, Olivia Conquest made nine saves to record the win.
 
With Beach and the defense limiting MacCheyne to one goal, Niagara's First Team All-MAAC attacker did pick up four assists on the day and helped keep the hosts on the offensive with 13 draw controls. Caroline Crump added a hat trick for the Purple Eagles. A shared effort in the cage saw Michelle Messenger get the start and make one save with Maren Geiger notching seven stops in relief.
 
Up next for the Stags, MAAC action comes to Conway Field at Rafferty Stadium for the first time on Wednesday, April 3, with a visit from Manhattan. The 3 p.m. contest will be broadcast live by the Stags Sports Network on ESPN3.
 
The upstart Jaspers are 8-3 – already their highest single-season win total since 2009 – and 3-0 in the MAAC after this afternoon's 8-6 win at Siena.