SETTING THE TABLE
Fairfield University women's lacrosse returns home this afternoon, taking on Monmouth in the first home contest for the team in two weeks. Opening draw between the Stags and the Hawks is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. from the friendly confines of Conway Field at Rafferty Stadium.
LAST TIME OUT
Despite a strong start to the contest, a quiet offensive second half proved to be the difference for Fairfield University women's lacrosse in a 16-11 defeat at Siena Saturday afternoon, a rematch of the 2021 MAAC Championship Game.
Elizabeth Talluto once again led the scoring for the Fairfield offense, finding the back of the net five times, taking over the team lead in points with 40 on the year and she continues to lead in goals scored with 32. Talluto led a group of four Stags to tally a goal in the contest, including Rylee Harrell netted a hat-trick on the day and Ellie Grefenstette who added two. Amanda Kozak also netted a goal in addition to an assist, while Olivia Doody completed a helper's hat-trick with three assists.
Defensively, the Stags were led by co-captain Kelly Horning who paced the team in both draw controls with six and ground balls with five. Nicollette LaVista collected five draws on the day, as her and Horning continue to move up the career draw controls list at Fairfield.
SCOUTING THE STAGS
Leading the Stags into the weekend is Elizabeth Talluto who has tallied the most points on the team with 36 and also paces the team in scoring with 32 goals on the year. Libby Rowe sits second in both categories with 37 points courtesy of 23 goals in addition to 14 assists. The Stags have spread the wealth all season long, with five different players scoring 20 or more goals, with Ellie Grefenstette just two points away from joining that group, and also leads the team in assists, dishing out 18, one ahead of Olvia Doody
On defense, Nicollette LaVista has corralled a team-high 64 draw controls, double the next best mark, that being 37 controls by Horning, who was named MAAC Defensive Player of the Week on Monday. Horning also leads the team in ground balls with 29 and also leads all active Division I players in ground balls for a career. She has also caused the most turnovers of any Stag, forcing 21, and is the current program record holder in both ground balls and forced turnovers.
HISTORY IN THE MAKING
With 64 draw controls on the year following Wednesday, Nicollette LaVista moved up from sixth to fourth on the all-time list for most draw controls in a single season for a women's lacrosse player. For her career LaVista has collected 134 draw controls, currently the tied with Erin Rigby '10 for fifth most in a career in program history.
SCOUTING THE HAWKS
Monmouth enters Conway Field at Rafferty Stadium looking for its fourth consecutive win, currently sitting at 8-6 on the year, and 3-2 in MAAC play, most recently defeating Siena, 19-14 last Saturday. Caroline Brennan leads the Hawks into the day with 49 points on the year off 33 goals and 16 assists. Hope Steuerwald paces the team in goals with 37 and Ella Spears leads the assists totals with 23. Defensively, Brianna Falco has collected a team-high 36 ground balls, and is second in draw controls with 48, with Cassidy Orban leading that category with 84.
HORNING TABBED MAAC DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Following another strong performance on both ends of the field, women's lacrosse claimed its fourth weekly award of the year from the MAAC as co-captain Kelly Horning was tabbed the Defensive Player of the Week by the conference on Apr. 11. A two-way threat as always, Horning stuffed the stat sheet in a pair of matches for the Stags last weekend. She totaled eight ground balls, 11 draw controls and five caused turnovers in games at Quinnipiac and Siena on defense, in addition to tallying five points over the weekend against the Bobcats, where she found the back of the net four times.
HORNING SETS PROGRAM RECORD FOR FORCED TURNOVERS
Co-captain Kelly Horning forced four turnovers by the Quinnipiac offense last time out, bringing her career mark to 111, which surpasses Kate Riitano for the most career caused turnovers in program history. Horning now holds the school record for caused turnovers in a career as well as the most ground balls in a career with 191 and counting, including three against the Bobcats.
GREFENSTETTE NAMED MAAC OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Fairfield University women's lacrosse jumped out to a 2-0 start in MAAC play, helped in large part by Ellie Grefenstette who was announced as Offensive Player of the Week by the league office on Apr. 4. In a pair of matches, Grefenstette nearly doubled her points total from the first eight games of the season, tallying 13 after ending non-conference play with 13. In the MAAC opener on Wednesday she scored a pair of goals while dishing out three assists, before finding the net four times in Saturday's trip to Marist while also handing out four helpers, leading the team with eight points on the day.
COLLINS NAMED MAAC DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
At a moment's notice, goalkeeper Casey Collins stepped up to the plate in a pair of matches last week for the Fairfield University women's lacrosse team and today was named Defensive Player of the Week by the MAAC on Feb. 28. Collins made her first collegiate start Feb. 23 against Boston University, stopping seven shots to help the Stags earn their first win over the Terriers, in what was also Collins first victory between the pipes. She followed up that performance with a 12-save effort that helped keep Hofstra under double-digit goals in the contest.
PROCTOR NABS MAAC DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
It took just two weeks for a member of the Fairfield University women's lacrosse team to earn weekly honors from the MAAC, as goalkeeper Phoebe Proctor was named Defensive Player of the Week by the league on Feb. 21. The award for Proctor follows a two-match week that saw her play all 120 minutes in the cage and picked up her second win of the season on the road last Saturday at Wagner.
HORNING SETS PROGRAM RECORD FOR GROUND BALLS
With a ground ball in the first half of a Feb. 16 meeting with UConn, Kelly Horning collected the 170th ground ball of her career, passing Mary Tortora for the all-time record at Fairfield University.
STAGS EARN TOP SPOT IN MAAC PRESEASON COACHES' POLL
Less than two weeks before the season opener for Fairfield University Women's Lacrosse, the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) announced the results of the 2022 Preseason Coaches' Poll, with the Stags tabbed to finish atop the conference standings once again.
The three-time defending MAAC champions, Fairfield took home 77 overall points in the poll, including six first-place nods, finishing just ahead of 2019 and 2021 runner-up Siena with 75 points and the remaining three votes. Monmouth, Niagara, and Quinnipiac round out the top five, followed by Marist, Canisius, Manhattan, and Iona who make up No. 6 through No. 9 in the poll
HORNING NAMED MAAC PRESEASON PLAYER OF THE YEAR
In addition to the Coaches' poll, Kelly Horning was named the 2022 Preseason Player of the Year, after leading the team with 37 goals last season. Horning was also selected to the Preseason All-MAAC roster.
Horning's preseason nod comes as she returns to the Stags for a fifth-year after garnering MAAC Midfielder of the Year honors following the 2021 regular season and has made the All-MAAC First-Team squad in each of the last two seasons.
MANGAN NAMED TO PRESEASON ALL-MAAC ROSTER
After racking up eight caused turnovers in the Stags' run to the title last season and being named the 2021 MAAC Championship MVP, co-captain Caroline Mangan was named to the 2022 preseason All-MAAC roster. Mangan in addition to her postseason accolades was named an All-MAAC Second Team honoree, compiling 18 caused turnovers and 14 ground balls while often charged with marking one of the opposition's top attackers.
SEASON SNAPSHOT
The 2022 schedule includes 16 dates overall, including seven games within the friendly confines of Conway Field at Rafferty Stadium. The first half of the schedule features matchups from five different conferences before an eight-game MAAC slate as the Stags look to claim their fourth consecutive conference championship.
LOOKING AHEAD
Fairfield women's lacrosse heads back on the road one final time in the regular season as the head to upstate New York for the third straight weekend, taking on Niagara. Opening draw between the Stags and the Purple Eagles is scheduled for 12:00 p.m. in Niagara, N.Y.
