Returning to the friendly confines of Conway Field at Rafferty Stadium for the third Saturday in a row, Fairfield University women's lacrosse is back in action as they take on Hofstra. Opening draw between the Stags and the Pride is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. on ESPN3 with JJ Duke on the call of the action.
LOOKING BACK ON THE ALL-TIME SERIES
These two sides last squared off less than one year ago, 364 days to be exact in a low-scoring defensive bout on Long Island that saw Hofstra take a 9-5 victory. Fairfield has amassed four wins against the Pride, with the most recent victory for the Stags coming in 2018 when they escaped Hempstead, N.Y. with a 13-12 victory in overtime.
SCOUTING THE HOFSTRA PRIDE
At 2-1 on the year, Hofstra enters play Saturday after suffering its first loss of the campaign in a 10-7 loss at Brown on Tuesday. The Pride, who are receiving votes in the IWLCA National Poll opened the year with a 14-6 victory over LIU at home, before downing No. 25 Vanderbilt 11-8 on the road in Nashville.
With 10 goals on the year and 14 total points, Nikki Mennella will lead the Hofstra offense into the weekend, followed by a pair of four goal scorers, including Katie Kelly who is the only other member of the Pride with double digit point tallies courtesy of a team-high six assists. Defensively, netminder Jess Smith has corralled a team-high seven ground balls, followed by two players with five to lead a total of 41 this season for Hofstra. Megan Flannery is one of those players in addition to four caused turnovers to pace the team. Leading the draw is Courtney Carollo who has nabbed 16 draw controls, followed by Kerry Walser with 11. Smith has also played all 180 minutes in the cage for the Pride in 2023 making 20 saves on a .445 save percentage.
STAGS SCOUTING REPORT
Saturday's match will on paper begin the second half of the Stags' eight-game non-conference schedule this season, entering the weekend at 2-2 on the year with victories over Holy Cross and Wagner. Despite the two losses, Fairfield played UConn within a goal in their road opener two weeks ago and last Wednesday, played UAlbany to within four following a five-goal fourth-quarter resurgence on the road in Upstate New York. As a team the Stags have scored 55 goals already this season and have assisted on 23 of those scores.
Libby Rowe leads the point totals with 18 for the year off an even split of nine goals and nine assists, while Elizabeth Talluto has racked up the most goals with 11 and sits second in points with 12. The Stags already have four double-digit scorers this year, with a pair of others sitting just outside that group with seven points apiece.
Defensively, Lindsey Barnes leads the team with 14 caused turnovers which included a career-high eight in Wednesday's meeting with the Great Danes, which was also the most of any player in a Division I game this season. Barnes also paces the ground ball totals with 10, followed by nine from Caroline Mangan and in the center circle, Rylee Harrell has collected a team-best 19 draw controls, followed by 11 from Nicollette LaVista.
SURPASSING THE CENTURY MARK
In the Stags' first road game last Wednesday at UConn, Libby Rowe became the newest member of the Fairfield women's lacrosse 100-point club for her career after a career-high six-goal performance against the Huskies. In addition to Rowe's achievement, classmate Ellie Grefenstette eclipsed the century point plateau herself in Wednesday's game at UAlbany, registering multiple points in the contest.
PRESEASON PRIZES
Given their dominance, particularly in the MAAC postseason, it's no surprise that the Stags were once again picked as the favorites to win the conference championship as voted on by the league's nine head coaches. Fairfield earned seven of nine first-place votes to top out the poll and placed three players on the all-preseason roster. Amongst the trio of honorees was Talluto, as well as LaVista, and Mangan, a testament to the Stags' strength at all positions heading into the season.
Talluto is coming off a season where she led the team in scoring and total points with 48 goals and 22 assists including 10 goals for the stags from free position. LaVista dominated the center circle for Fairfield a year ago, collecting a career-high 97 draw controls, which is a top-five all-time mark for any Stag in a single season. Mangan helped control the back third of the field once again for the squad in 2022, as she collected 44 ground balls and helped to cause 25 turnovers by opponent attackers.
All-in-all the Stags garnered seven of the nine total first-place votes in the poll and received a total of 78 points to top out the standings. MAAC newcomers Mount St. Mary's place tied for second in the poll alongside Siena who both placed with 68 points and received one of the two remaining top bids. In fourth slotted Niagara which earned 51 points before another slight drop in points to the fifth spot with Canisius who totaled 39. Iona placed sixth in the poll, followed by Manhattan, Marist, and Quinnipiac to round out the nine-team MAAC contingent.
SURVEYING THE SEASON
This season's non-conference calendar for Fairfield women's lacrosse team will see the squad face eight opponents representing the CAA, NEC, BIG EAST, America East, and Patriot League, including three defending league champions, before facing the eight-team MAAC contingent in the latter half of the campaign. Within the 16 total contests, the Stags will make seven appearances on the brand-new turf from Conway Field at Rafferty Stadium, including the season opener in February.
Fairfield will debut with three of its first five contests at home, before spending the entirety of the month of March on the road, with four matches on the docket that month, including the annual battle of Fairfield as the Stags head across town to play Sacred Heart. The road swing closes with the MAAC opener at Iona before a trio of home games that await the first week of April, followed by a trip to Maryland for the first in-conference meeting with Mount St. Mary's. One final date at home will see the Stags host Niagara, before back-to-back games in the Empire State to end the regular season.
DOWN THE ROAD
Following the meeting with Hofstra this weekend, Fairfield women's lacrosse is back in action next Saturday, Mar. 4 when they embark on a four-game road trip with a visit to UVM. Opening draw against the Vermont Catamounts is scheduled for 12:00 p.m. from Burlington, Vt.
