Despite being in the midst of a four-game road trip, the next venture for Fairfield University women's lacrosse sees the squad head across town Wednesday afternoon as they close the non-conference portion of the season at Sacred Heart. Opening draw between the Stags and the Pioneers is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. from SHU.
STAGS SCOUTING REPORT
Fairfield enters the weekend at 4-3. Led by an offense that has scored 12 or more goals in all but one of its first seven games to open the campaign and scored a season-high 17 earlier this year at UConn. As a team, the Stags have scored 93 goals already this season and have assisted on 37 of those scores.
A top-25 scoring offense in the nation, the Stags enter Wednesday scoring an even 14 goals per game which slots 22nd in the country while averaging 5.5 assists per game which currently slots 39th in the nation. From free position, Fairfield sits seventh amongst all DI teams, scoring on those chances at a 60% clip, and the offense is also placed 33rd at 19.5 points per contest. Elizabeth Talluto leads the Stags offense and sits tied for 18th amongst all Division I players for the most goals scored thus far and tied for 19th in goals per game at 3.5 per. Libby Rowe paces the assist totals while standing tied for 46th in the country to highlight a plethora of top national statistics for the squad on both sides of the field.
The Stags currently lead the nation in caused turnovers per game, forcing an average of 13.33 per contest, nearly more than the next-highest clip from Yale at 12.4/per game. They also sit near the top of the tables at 13th in the country with 16.33 draw controls per game while slotting 29th in the nation in draw control percentage at .563. Defensively, Lindsey Barnes leads the team in caused turnovers, including a career-high eight in the meeting with the Great Danes, and sits fifth in the nation in caused turnovers per game at 2.83/per game. Rylee Harrell tops the draw totals for the Stags and is another player atop the national rankings, slotting 21st in the nation at 6.17 draw controls per game.
NCAA Statistics are as of Mar. 8, 2023
LOOKING BACK ON THE ALL-TIME SERIES
The Stags have dominated the all-time series against Sacred Heart, having won each of the previous 15 meetings against the Pioneers. Most recently the two sides squared off on Conway Field at Rafferty Stadium, with Fairfield taking an 11-10 victory on Mar. 19, 2022.
SCOUTING THE SACRED HEART PIONEERS
At 1-6 on the year, Sacred Heart defeated New Hampshire a week ago before falling to Brown in their last contests Saturday 14-10 at home. With 25 goals on the year, Lydia Werlau has scored the most goals of any player for the Pioneers, followed by Emma Kittredge with 14 goals and five assists. The remaining double-digit scorers for the team is Grace Reinold has tallied 15 goals and a pair of assists to highlight a ground of nine players with at least one goal for SHU. Defensively Ellie Holt has collected 22 draw controls, followed by 12 from Leah Durkin and 11 from Werlau. Claire McElhenny has gathered 18 ground balls, followed by Mikala Eacrett with 14 thus far.
CONFERENCE SUPERLATIVES
After a stellar performance in a pair of games, Fairfield University women's lacrosse senior Lindsey Barnes was named the MAAC defensive player of the week as announced by the league office last month. The award for the Malvern, Pa. native marks the first of her career as the first Stag to claim a women's lacrosse weekly honor this season, just three weeks into the campaign.
Barnes was a force on defense for the Stags, causing a career-high eight turnovers by UAlbany players, the most by any player in a Division I game this season. She also collected six ground balls in the road performance against the Great Danes, before causing two turnovers and collecting a single draw control in the win over Hofstra.
SURPASSING THE CENTURY MARK
Three members of the Stags' offense have surpassed 100 goals for their career during the 2023 campaign with the newest member of the club, Elizabeth Talluto adding her name to the group as part of her 21-goal total coming into this weekend. Back in the first road game of the year at UConn, Libby Rowe joined the Fairfield women's lacrosse 100-point list 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 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 debuted with three of its first five contests at home and will now spend the entirety of the month of March on the road, with four matches on the docket, 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
Fairfield women's lacrosse is back in action this Saturday when they head down to New York to open the MAAC slate at Iona. Opening draw against the Gaels is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. from New Rochelle, N.Y.
