RIVERDALE, N.Y. – A dominating defensive effort saw just three goals scored by the host Jaspers as the Fairfield University women's lacrosse team defeated Manhattan, 13-3, on the road Wednesday afternoon.
For the 10th time in their 11 victories this season, the Stags held their opponent to under 10 goals, including just one goal allowed in the second half of today's game. The defensive stand saw the lowest output by a Fairfield opponent in nearly eight years, having last allowed three goals on Apr. 20, 2016, a 17-3 win over Quinnipiac.
The effort by the squad, in addition to a Niagara win over Siena shortly after, the Stags claim at least a share of the MAAC Regular Season Championships and have officially locked up the No. 1 seed in the 2023 MAAC Tournament. That also means they will have a bye past next weekend's opening round and will host championship weekend May 5th and 7th from Conway Field at Rafferty Stadium.
Another well balanced attack saw five different Stags net a pair of goals, with two others adding a single score apiece, with Libby Rowe leading the point totals off a pair of scores and season-best four assists. With five points Ellie Grefenstette tallied two goals for herself in addition to a trio of helpers, and Olivia Doody scored two and assisted on two, becoming the newest member of the Fairfield 100-point club in the process.
Elsewhere on the scoresheet Sarah Bucher had a goal and an assist, while Elizabeth Talluto and Maggie Fort each added a pair of scores and Haley Burns registered a single dime. Rounding out the scoring, Lindsey Barnes made her way from the defensive side of the ball to the offense as she scored the first goal of her career late in the fourth quarter.
Defensively Nicollette LaVista tallied a game-high eight draw controls ahead of Caroline Mangan who corralled six as both continue to bolster career seasons in that department, ranking amongst the top-50 players nationally for much of the year. Mangan completed a career day for herself once again as she also led the team with five ground balls and five caused turnovers. Burns and Julia Rigolizzo were next in those categories with Burns tallying two grounders and three caused turnovers and Rigolizzo with three and three.
A low scoring first period saw the home side open the scoring just under 10 minutes in, but it took less than a minute for the Stags to answer on a goal from Rowe, leaving the sides level at one after 15 minutes of play. Fairfield would strike early in the second frame with a pair of goals 34 seconds apart to give them a three goal cushion a few minutes before Manhattan would tack on one more. From there the Stags would go on a six-goal run, adding three more goals in the first half to lead 6-2 at the break.
A trio of scores to open the second half would be the only three goals in period as Fairfield held the Jaspers off the board behind a pair of goals by Fort including one with her side on the player-advantage. Manhattan would not find the back of the net until the 10:07 mark of the fourth quarter, breaking an exactly 29-minute scoring drought, their only score of the second half, before four straight goals by the Stags as the Stags improve to 11-4 on the year and 6-1 going into the regular season finale.
With one game left on the docket before the postseason, Fairfield women's lacrosse is back in action Saturday when they head to Buffalo, N.Y. to take on Canisius.
