FAIRFIELD, Conn. – Fairfield University Men's Lacrosse scored the first six goals of Wednesday night's meeting with crosstown foe Sacred Heart and never looked back en route to a 14-8 victory on Conway Field at Rafferty Stadium. Dylan Beckwith led the attack and matched his career high with nine points in the win.
 
"We came out and really played our brand of lacrosse in the first quarter," said Head Coach Andrew Baxter. "We knew the adversity was coming and that they would come back, but we did a very good job of fighting through that and then closing it out in the fourth quarter. It was a great team win."
 
Beckwith netted a hat trick in Fairfield's (2-3) opening six-goal onslaught and added one marker apiece in the third and fourth quarters. He also doled out four assists to polish off his nine-point day – one shy of the Fairfield single-game record of 10 points shared by Spencer Steele '00, Rob Scipioni '02 and Travis Nelson '08.

The nine points from Beckwith led a stable of 12 Stags to record either a point or an assist. Matt Chlastawa added three points – as he has done in every game this season – scoring his seventh goal of the spring and handing out a pair of assists. Travis Ford scored two goals, with Trent Moran and Ryan Lancaster each recording a goal and an assist. The points for Lancaster were the first of his young career with the Stags.
 
Rounding out the scoring, Fairfield got single goals from Dean Ford, Daniel Wilson (first career), Frankie Labetti and Malcolm MacInnes, as well as assists served up by Taylor Strough, Max Paparozzi and Tyler Wuchte.
 
Labetti also did his part to keep the Stags on the attack, posting a 17-of-24 day at the faceoff X with eight ground balls. A host of midfielders including Lancaster, Dean Ford, Jon Wheat and Braden Lynch each picked up two ground balls as the Stags won that battle over the Pioneers, 33-23. Dean Ford also recorded a pair of caused turnovers.
 
On close defense, Lucas Pedersen and Tyler Burns each collected three ground balls, and George Elmquist snapped up two to go along with a caused turnover.
 
Colin Consoli manned the cage for the Stags and made 10 saves to earn the win. The rookie goalkeeper has tallied double-digit saves in every game this season en route to 68 total stops and a .504 save percentage.
 
Sacred Heart (1-6) benefited from a hat trick by Trevor Johnson and two goals from Drew Edwards. The Pioneers' leading scorer, Logan Liljeberg, was held scoreless by the Fairfield defense after racking up 26 points for SHU over their first six games. Colton King made 13 saves in the Pioneers' cage.
 
Tonight's game marked Fairfield's fifth outing in a two-week span since opening the campaign on March 3. The Stags will be back in action next Friday, March 26, on Conway Field at Rafferty Stadium for a 7 p.m. CAA clash with Hofstra.
 
"I don't think we're anywhere near a finished product yet. We've got a week to tighten up the things we've installed, address what we've learned about ourselves over these five games, and install a few new things," said Baxter. "It's also a good opportunity to rest and get healthy as we prepare for the second half of the season with some big CAA games coming up."