FAIRFIELD, Conn. – A late defensive stand against their crosstown rivals saw Fairfield University women's lacrosse rally back from a one goal deficit at the half to take down Sacred Heart, 11-10 Saturday.
Fairfield improves to 15-0 all-time against the Pioneers and take their second win of the season at Conway Field at Rafferty Stadium. The Stags win moves them to a 5-3 record in the non-conference portion of the schedule, with two of those losses coming against top-25 opponents.
"I think we stood strong against a good Sacred Heart team," said Head Coach Laura Field. "they've competed hard the last few times we've played including in the fall, so we knew what to expect and I'm happy we were able to gut it out."
The Stags spread the wealth on offense Saturday afternoon, with nine different players finding the back of the net, highlighted by Elizabeth Talluto, Olivia Doody and co-captain Kelly Horning, who each scored a pair, while Doody led the team in total points with four, having also dished out two assists. Ellie Grefenstette added a goal and a pair of helpers on the day, leading five Fairfield players who tallied a single score.
Defensively, Horning and Nicollette LaVista led the team on the draw with three controls apiece, along with Rylee Harrell who also had three. Julia Rigolizzo led the ground ball totals with three, followed by six different Stags who each corralled a pair. In the cage, Casey Collins played all 60 minutes between the pipes, making seven saves.
"Spreading the ball around makes us harder to scout and harder to stop, said Coach Field. "We need to be a little more cohesive as a unit, but overall, we did have a lot of spread both offensively and defensively today."
Sacred Heart broke the scoreless draw just over four minutes into play, before Doody found the back of the net, the first of back-to-back goals by the Stags to take an early 2-1 lead. The Pioneers would answer with two of their own in quick succession, followed by a goal from Talluto for Fairfield to tie the match at three. The Stags would take back the lead late off a goal by Rowe and saw that score line out through the end of the quarter.
The defenses stood tall on both ends to open the second quarter, with neither side able to break through until Kelly Horning scored at the 7:25 mark in the period to push the Fairfield run to three. Sacred Heart would need almost 12 minutes of play to find the back of the net but scored three times in the closing stages of the second to put Fairfield down one at the half.
Out of the break the Stags would strike early, scoring a pair of goals in the first 90 seconds to force a Pioneers timeout. Sacred Heart was able to bring the match level a few minutes later, but a late goal by Doody, her second of the day, gave Fairfield a one-goal cushion going into the fourth quarter.
The Stags took just three minutes of the final frame to extend their lead to two on a goal by Maggie Fort. Fairfield followed that up with a pair of scores from Horning and Rylee Harrell to give the home side a four-goal advantage with just under seven minutes left in the quarter. Sacred Heart managed to reach the back of net three times in the final six minutes of play, but the Stags' defense stood tall to maintain a one goal lead through the final horn.
Fairfield women's lacrosse is back in action next Wednesday when they open MAAC play at home against Iona. Opening draw between the Stags and the Gaels is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. from Conway Field at Rafferty Stadium.
