FAIRFIELD – An end-to-end effort by No. 4 seed Fairfield University women's lacrosse saw the Stags take down No. 5 seed Canisius, 15-7 in the first round of the 2022 MAAC championships Saturday afternoon on Conway Field at Rafferty Stadium.
"Our efforts forcing turnovers and not committing fouls are two things we are really proud of from today," said Head Coach Laura Field postgame. "We do want to be better in how clean we play. We are happy with the win, but we know we need to keep playing better in order to advance [in the tournament]."
Maggie Fort helped to pace the Fairfield offense with five points on the day, including four goals, while Olivia Doody joined her atop the stat sheet with two goals and three assists. Amanda Kozak also netted a hat trick on the day, while co-captain Kelly Horning notched a pair of goals and a pair of assists as well. Libby Rowe tallied a single assist, Ellie Grefenstette scored two goals as well in addition to one assist, and Elizabeth Talluto rounded out scoring with the same output.
Defensively, Horning led the team with four ground balls, followed by both Rowe and Talluto with three apiece, and four players that each had two. Co-captain Caroline Mangan paced the team, forcing five turnovers, followed by Horning who forced four, and also led the team in draw controls with five, followed by a pair of players with two apiece in Fort and Nicollette LaVista.
"Individual performances were great, Maggie, Amanda, Olivia Doody, and in goal Olivia Conquest in the second half stepping up as well," said Coach Field. "We assisted on all but three of our goals which is something we really like to see and it helped us grab one more victory at home before we head on the road."
Fairfield opened the scoring as Fort netted the first two goals of the day, and Grefenstette added a third to give the home side an early lead. Skylar McArthur would score back-to-back goals of her own for Canisius to get back within one, before Talluto scored to reestablish a two-score advantage. Grefenstette would add a second for herself before Paige Stachura got one back for the Griffs, but a pair of goals by Talluto and Doody in the final 34 seconds gave the Stags a 7-3 lead at the end of the first.
Doody would net her second goal of the day less than a minute into the second quarter to push the lead to five before a pair of goals by McArthur and Kaitlyn Salce for Canisius cut it to three. Kozak would net her 32nd goal of the season in the closing stages of the frame to five Fairfield a 9-5 advantage going into the locker room.
Out of the half, Stachura would score for the Golden Griffins just over 90 seconds into the period, but was answered a couple of minutes later on a goal by Fort. Horning and Kozak would help extend a three-goal run for the Stags, who opened their biggest lead of the day at 12-6 going into the fourth quarter.
Stachura would open the scoring just over a minute into the final stanza as well to cut the deficit to five, but that goal would be answered once again by Fort, who netted her fourth of the day with that score. The defenses would stand tall for both sides from there, before Horning added her second of the day which gave her sole possession of second place on the all-time goals record at Fairfield. Kozak would add another goal late for the Stags who advance to the conference semifinals for the fourth time in the last five postseasons.
With the win the Stags advance to the 2022 MAAC women's lacrosse semifinals where they will take on No. 2 seed and host Siena on Friday, May 6.
