FAIRFIELD – Following senior day festivities on Conway Field at Rafferty Stadium, Fairfield University women's lacrosse outscored Canisius by double figures in the first half, on the way to a 21-11 victory over the Griffins in the 2022 regular-season finale.
The Stags' 21 goals in the contest is the first time the Stags have hit that mark since they defeated Niagara 21-5 on Apr. 11, 2013. Fairfield's offense saw 10 different players find the back of the net Saturday, including a pair of seniors in Cameryn Dera and Arianna Lavelle.
Leading the point totals for the day was Elizabeth Talluto who netted a pair of goals while, leading the team with four assists. Maggie Fort registered a career-high five points on the day, scoring four goals for the second game in a row, while also dishing out a single assist. Amanda Kozak netted four goals on the day as well, and Olivia Doody matched that point total with two goals and a pair of helpers. Rylee Harrell scored three goals, Ellie Grefenstette had two goals and an assist, and co-captain Kelly Horning tallied a pair of goals in the game.
On defense, Nicollette LaVista once again led the team in draw controls with eight, bringing her to 85 for the season, one away from tying Erin Mammele's 2017 total for the second-best single-season mark in program history. Horning and Harrell each collected three draw controls for the Stags and Fort collected one, while Horning led a pair of other defensive categories, as she gathered three ground balls and forced four turnovers.
Fairfield opened the scoring just 44 seconds into the first quarter, as Ellie Grefenstette scored off a feed from Olivia Doody across the goalmouth to give the Stags an early lead. Canisius would score two of their own a handful of minutes later, before Rylee Harrell scored to draw the match at two, before back-to-back goals by Kozak, and a free position score from Horning gave Fairfield a three-goal lead after one.
In the second quarter, the Griffs struck first less than two minutes in, but that would be the only goal for the visitors in the frame. Harrell answered that goal by Canisius with her second of the day, before Horning tacked on another less than a minute later to take a four-goal lead. Fort and Doody netted goals 20 seconds apart a short while later before Doody scored again just over a minute later to put Fairfield up five. Talluto would register points off the next three goals, scoring two and assisting on the other, sending the game into running time going into the half, up 13-3.
Coming out of the break, Canisius scored 26 seconds into the half, before adding a second a few minutes later. Back-to-back scores by Fort but the Stags back up double-digits halfway through the frame. The visitors then scored three of the next four to end the quarter, but Fairfield still carried an eight-goal advantage into the final stanza.
Fort tallied her fourth goal of the day just over a minute into the quarter, but Canisius was able to answer back just 26 seconds later. The Griffs would quickly add another before Dera found the back of the cage, followed by Sarah Bucher just 32 seconds later to go up by nine. Lavelle and Harrell scored the final two goals of the contest, separated by a Canisius score to set the final margin at 11.
Fairfield women's lacrosse ends the regular season at 10-6 on the year, and 5-3 in MAAC play, clinching a spot in the 2022 MAAC Championships which begin next weekend. The Stags will await the conclusion of the conference slate of games for the final determination of playoff opponents and locations. For the most up-to-date information on the Stags' chase for a fourth consecutive MAAC title, visit FairfieldStags.com and follow @stagswomenslax on Twitter.
