A strong second half comeback by Fairfield University women's lacrosse Sunday afternoon saw the Stags celebrating in upstate New York, as they defeated No. 1 seed Monmouth 14-11 to claim the 2022 MAAC Championship.
The Stags have now won the last four MAAC titles, becoming just the second school in conference history to win four straight championships, with Canisius being the other. Five players also made the All-Tournament roster, including co-captain Kelly Horning who was named tournament MVP, and is the only player on the current roster to have been a part of all four championship teams. Libby Rowe, Keyla Bay, Nicollette LaVista, and co-captain Caroline Mangan also nabbed spots on the all-championship lineup.
Rowe led the Stags offense to victory scoring five goals and dishing out one assist, followed by Elizabeth Talluto who scored a hat-trick on the day. Maggie Fort scored two goals and an assist, and Amanda Kozak and Ellie Grefensette netted two each to round out the scoring, with Horning adding a single assist.
Defensively Fort led the ground ball numbers with four alongside Mangan, followed by three from Lindsey Barnes and four players with two apiece. Fort also led the draw control department with six, ahead of four from LaVista and two from Horning, while Fort, Horning, and Mangan each caused two turnovers. In the cage, Olivia Conquest made nine saves on the afternoon for a .450 goals against average.
Monmouth scored the first two goals of the contest 26 seconds apart to take the lead less than two minutes into the contest. It took less than 60 seconds for Rowe to score her first of the day to put Fairfield on the board. Monmouth would tack on another before both sides would be held off the board for nearly 12 minutes, until Talluto scored with 39 seconds remaining, answered by the Hawks in the final moments to take a 4-2 lead after 15 minutes of play.
Fairfield dominated in the early part of the second quarter as Grefenstette opened the scoring 35 seconds in, followed by two more by Kozak and Fort to give the Stags their first lead of the afternoon. Monmouth would counter with four unanswered goals, before Rowe and Kozak found the back of the net in the final 38 seconds of the half to trail by just one at the break.
Monmouth would strike first in the second half, their only goal of the period, followed by a goal by Grefenstette from free position. Rowe would net a goal for the Stags with 36 seconds to play in the quarter to level the match at nine heading into the fourth.
Rowe would score the next two Fairfield goals as well to put the Stags up 11-9 in the early part of the fourth quarter, before Monmouth scored to cut it back to one. Talluto would then net back-to-back goals for her side to give the Stags their biggest lead of the day. Another goal would all but ice the game, despite one score by the Hawks late, the defense would hold a three goal lead to the buzzer to claim the 2022 MAAC Championship
With the title claimed the Stags earn the MAAC's auto bid into the 2022 NCAA Tournament which begins next week. Stay tuned to FairfieldStags.com for the latest information following the selection show this evening, at 9:00 p.m. on ESPNU.
