FAIRFIELD, Conn. – The 2019 season came to an end for Fairfield University Women's Lacrosse on Tuesday afternoon as the Stags were edged by visiting Wagner, 15-13, in the NCAA Championship Opening Round on Conway Field at Rafferty Stadium. Brooke Gallagher led the Stags with six points to complete just the third 80-point campaign in program history.
 
Fairfield (15-4) wraps up its second straight Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Championship campaign – the program's first-ever run of back-to-back titles – and its fourth trip to the NCAA postseason. Two-time defending Northeast Conference (NEC) Champion Wagner improves to 16-3 and advances to play at seventh-seeded Princeton on Friday evening.
 
Gallagher tallied three goals and three assists to finish at an even 80 points in her final campaign with the Stags. She is the first Fairfield player to reach that mark in a decade, surpassed only by Kristen Coleman's 90 points in 2008 and 88 points in 2009. Gallagher's 45 goals this season are good for 10th on the single-season chart and her 35 assists in 2019 rate at second all-time.
 
Diana DeVita also netted a hat trick for Fairfield and doled out an assist. Kelly Horning, Kathleen Hulseman and Taylor Mitchell each added two goals, with Cameryn Dera chipping in one marker. Rounding out the attack were Horning and Meaghan Graham with one assist apiece.
 
Mitchell's two goals boosted her mark to 40 tallies for the second straight season. She finishes her career as the third Stag with back-to-back 40-goal seasons.
 
As a team, Fairfield saw a program-record five players reach the 40-point mark: Gallagher (80), Graham (45), Mitchell (42), Hulseman (42) and DeVita (40).
 
Also in today's game, Erin Mammele made her final mark on the Fairfield record books with seven draw controls. The showing improves her season total to 54 as she now owns three of the top-five seasons on the draw in program history. Mammele wraps up her four-year stay with the Stags as the all-time leader in draws with 271. Her 123 draw controls last season established the single-season record, and she also holds the single-game mark with 11 – attained twice in back-to-back efforts in February of 2018.
 
The defense was led by four caused turnovers and four ground balls for Maggie Reynolds. Hulseman scooped up five ground balls covering the length of the field for the Stags, and DeVita extended Fairfield possessions with four ground balls of her own on the attack.
 
Olivia Conquest capped a season in which she played every second in the Fairfield cage with nine saves. Her 178 stops this spring rank second in a single-season in program history, and her 15 individual goalkeeping wins are the third-most in a season by a Stag.
 
Wagner's NEC Midfielder of the Year Erin Kerstetter led all players with seven points comprised of four goals – including the game-winner – and three assists. Megan Drum added five goals for Wagner and Stefani Peluso distributed three assists. Kelsey Fee earned the win in the cage with seven saves. She was briefly spelled by Lauren DiStefano, who made five stops.
 
Fairfield never trailed in the first half as Horning and Hulseman netted the first two tallies of the day to stake Fairfield to an early lead. Wagner would rally to tie the score at 4-4, but a three-goal run featuring two Gallagher markers put the hosts back in front, 7-4, with 12:14 to go in the period. Three of the last four tallies of the half went to the Seahawks, shrinking the Stags' edge to 8-7 at the intermission.
 
Once again, Fairfield started the period with consecutive goals with Mitchell and Dera extending the lead to 10-7. At that point, Wagner embarked on its longest run of the day with four straight tallies in a span of just 3:36 to take its first lead of the contest at 11-10 with 19:43 remaining.
 
The lead was short-lived, as Hulseman answered with a free-position goal on the next Fairfield possession to knot the game at 11-11. However, Wagner ran off the next two with goals from Stephanie Falcone and Drum to take their first multi-goal advantage of the afternoon, 13-11, with 12:44 to go. The back-and-forth action continued with Gallagher completing her hat trick, then connecting with DeVita for her third of the day to deadlock the contest again at 13-13.
 
The Seahawks struck next to break the stalemate with Kerstetter's fourth tally of the day, and the sophomore then connected with Maria Henwood to push Wagner's lead to 15-13 with 2:57 remaining. Nicollette LaVista came away with the ensuing draw for the Stags, but Fairfield would not score on the possession as time expired.
 
The Fairfield senior class of Hulseman, Mammele, Mitchell, Megan Beach and Bridget Weill – as well as fifth-year Gallagher – won 49 games over the last four campaigns including a 25-7 MAAC record.
 
"Our seniors are an exceptional group – the first to win back-to-back MAAC Championships," said Head Coach Laura Field. "A lot of the tears you see today are because they expect and demand more, and they're disappointed that they weren't able to fulfill that. But by no means should they be disappointed in their legacy. They showed the underclassmen the example of who we want to be."