FAIRFIELD, Conn. – A dominating effort from Conway Field at Rafferty Stadium Saturday afternoon saw the Fairfield University women's lacrosse team close the month of April with a convincing victory over Hofstra, 15-7.

"It was a much-more complete game from top-to-bottom," said Head Coach Laura Field after the win. "We had seven assisted goals, dominated on draw controls which both the draw unit and takers both did really well. Offensively we had some really good performances from a number of different players which really helped open the game up, literally and figuratively which was nice to see."

A seven-point performance by Elizabeth Talluto led the way for the Fairfield offense, one of two players to score a hat trick, with Ellie Grefenstette netting the other with exactly three. Grace Slater and Amanda Kozak each added a pair of goals, with Slater also notching an assist, followed by four one-goal scorers for the Stags, including Olivia Doody who also added three assists.

Fairfield was paced on the defensive end by Nicollette LaVista and Rylee Harrell with eight and seven, respectively, while as a team the Stags outdrew Hofstra 19-6 for the game. Julia Rigolizzo led a group of 10 players with at least one ground ball as she led the team with four, and in the cage, Casey Collins played the full 60 minutes while making four saves.

The Stags would open the game with six of the first seven goals as the Fairfield offense opened the scoring just 1:15 into the first quarter as Talluto netted back-to-back scores, part of a four-goal first quarter for herself. Hofstra, who entered the weekend receiving votes within the IWCLA poll would add one back, but that would be their only goal of the frame, and Doody would add one for the Stags shortly after to reestablish a two-goal advantage early. Harrell would nab her second of the year a couple minutes later, followed by another two from Talluto to put the Stags up five after 15 minutes of action.

In the second, it would be the visitors opening the scoring with a goal just over three minutes in, but once again the Pride would be held to just a single score for the frame, as the Stags tacked on three straight goals to end the quarter and take a 9-2 lead. Grefenstette would net her first of the day to answer the Hofstra goal less than two minutes after it happened, followed by a score by both Slater and Rowe to give the Stags a convincing advantage heading into halftime.

"I think that was the message coming in, looking at the numbers third quarters is one of their strong suits," said Coach Field. "It was great to see that it was the energy we brought out of half, not necessarily the execution but just the energy we brought in that third quarter that helped us."

Offense was the name of the game for much of the open stages of the second half of play, with a combined four goals being scored in the opening 3:42, as Kozak and Grefenstette scored for the Stags, bookended by two goals from the Pride. After the second Hofstra goal, Fairifeld would once again notch two consecutive goals from Kozak and Slater, before splitting the final two goals of the quarter, which gave the home side its biggest margin of the day at 14-5.

Now 3-0 on their home turf the schedule turns to next Saturday, with the Stags set to travel to take on the defending America East champions, the Vermont Catamounts to open a four-game road trip that will see Fairfield play the entire month of March on the road.

"If you're circling games on the schedule, I think it's the last two and these two coming up that are the biggest focus," said Coach Field. "There's no difference between the team that we put on the field Wednesday and the team from Saturday it's the execution and the goal for this week is to figure out how to harness that."

Fairfield women's lacrosse has its first midweek off this season and will return to action next Saturday, Mar. 4 when they take on Vermont. Opening draw against UVM is scheduled for 12:00 p.m. from Burlington, Vt.