FAIRFIELD, Conn. – A offensive onslaught in the opening 30 minutes turned into an early season test on the defensive side of the ball Saturday afternoon, as Fairfield University women's lacrosse defeated Holy Cross 13-10. Kicking off the campaign with a home victory on the friendly confines of Conway Field at Rafferty Stadium, eight different Stags contributed to the final goal tally, led by a hat-trick from Ellie Grefenstette.
"I thought our draw group did really well and our players around the circle as well," said Head Coach Laura Field. "Just from a statistical analysis of our offense, we spread the ball well and having nine assists on thirteen goals is something that we really do work for, and it showed today."
Grefenstette's hat-trick led a group of four players to find the back of the net multiple times, and she led the overall point totals for the Stags with two assists as well. Olivia Doody added a pair of goals in addition to two helpers, and Elizabeth Talluto joined Amanda Kozak as the other multi-goal scorers on the day. Four other players also found the back of the net a single time, including Libby Rowe who scored once in addition to a team-best four assists.
Defensively, Nicollette LaVista led in the circle with eight draw controls, followed by three from Haley Burns and two each from Maggie Fort and Brynn Donnelly. Burns, Fort and goalkeeper Casey Collins each led with three ground balls, while between the pipes Collins made nine saves in a full 60 minutes of action.
Holy Cross was the first to find the back of the net in 2023, scoring just 35 seconds into the first on a goal by Ella Kittredge, answered quickly by Grefenstette to level the score at one just over three minutes into play. Less than a minute later Doody would rip one past the keeper to flip the scoreline and give Fairfield its first lead of the game. Talluto would score just before the midway point of the opening quarter to double the Stags' advantage.
From there it would be all Fairfield to end the first frame, beginning with Doody adding her second with 4:32 left, followed by Harrell who netted her first of the year just 47 seconds later to extend the lead to three. Grefenstette would score another goal with six seconds to go in the period, giving the home side a healthy separation from the Crusaders after one.
Another early goal by the visitors to open the period saw Christine Fabrizi score from free-position exactly one minute into the second quarter, cutting the lead to three. Maggie Fort would score a handful of minutes later, the first of three straight for the Stags which included the score by Burns, the first of her collegiate career. Holy Cross would tack on another from free-position later in the frame, just two minutes before Rowe got an opportunity of her own at the Holy Cross netminder, scoring with 26 seconds to go, which sent the Stags to halftime with a six-goal advantage.
A ten goal first-half saw the Stags score multiple times off of restarts from behind the cage, particularly in the opening frames, a credit to the work both in practice and in the film room.
"To be perfectly honest, that was our scout for Holy Cross and our execution was a reflection of our preparation in practice," said Coach Field.
Out of the break, Fairfield would be the first to strike with a goal just over four minutes after the restart from free-position, giving the home side its biggest lead of the day at 11-4. That would be the only goal of the frame for the Stags, as the Crusaders would score three straight goals to end the period and cut the deficit to four.
In the final period, Holy Cross would score once more to make it 11-8 with less than 11 minutes to play, before Kozak tacked on a score off a feed from Rowe to extend the lead back to four. Kittridge would counter for the visitors but another goal by Grefenstette with 3:16 to go provided the separation the Fairfield defense would need to see the game out to the final buzzer.
With a pair of insurance goals in the fourth and their defensive resilience late in the game, the Stags helped to put their first tally in the win column this season, turning the attention now to Wednesday, the first road trip of the year against nationally ranked UConn.
"A win is a win, that's true, but going forward if we want to put ourselves on the map, we've got to actually show up at very single game, to our level and not anyone else's level."
Fairfield women's lacrosse returns to action this Wednesday with the first road trip of the campaign as they head upstate to take on the No. 24 UConn Huskies. Opening draw from Joseph J. Morrone Stadium in Storrs is scheduled for 3:00 p.m.
