LOUDONVILLE, N.Y. - An end-to-end defensive battle saw Fairfield University women's lacrosse pull away in the third quarter and maintain their advantage throughout to take down No. 2 seed and host Siena, 10-8 in the MAAC Championship Semifinals Friday.
Seven different Stags tallied a point on the day highlighted by four goals from co-captain Kelly Horning, and a pair from Amanda Kozak. Olivia Doody let the point totals with a single goal and four assists, and Libby Rowe provided a pair of helpers as well. Maggie Fort and Elizabeth Talluto were the other scorers for the visitors Friday, along with Ellie Grfenstette who tallied one goal and one assist.
Defensively, the Stags were led by Horing with five ground balls, followed by Fort with four and a trio of Stags that collected two each. Horning, Lindsey Barnes and Julia Rigolizzo each forced two turnovers by Siena players, and Nicollette LaVista joined Horning in the draw control department as the each collected four to pace the team.
Fairfield struck first just over four minutes into the match, as Horning netted her first of a feed from Rowe to give their side an early lead. Kozak would double the Stags' advantage in the quarter, before Amanda Nieman scored for the Saints to cut the lead back to one after 15 minutes of play.
The Stags struck first in the second quarter off a Fort goal, before three straight goals by Siena gave the home side its first lead of the contests. Horning would net a goal for the Stags with 5:31 to play in the first half, the final goal for either side as the teams were level at four going into the locker room.
After Haylee Kuprianchik scored for Siena to open the second half scoring, answered just 34 seconds later by Horning to complete a hat-trick for the Fairfield fifth year. That would be the first of four straight goals by the Stags to go up three, before Katy Wangsness scored for the Saints to set the difference at two going into the final quarter.
In the fourth, both sides were held off the board for the first 8:01 of the quarter before Doody netted a goal for the Stags to put them up by three. Back-to-back goals by the Saints cut the deficit to one, but an insurance goal by Kozak with 2:30 to go reestablished a two-goal advantage that the Stags' defense would see out to the final horn.
The Stags reach the Championship Game for the fifth consecutive season and will look for their fourth consecutive conference title and a spot in the NCAA tournament next week. The 2022 MAAC Championship will be held Sunday at 1:00 p.m. from Siena with the Stags taking on the winner of this afternoon's second semifinal game between No. 1 seed Monmouth and No. 6 seed Manhattan.
