FAIRFIELD, Conn. – Keegan Lynch's goal just over two minutes in the second half staked Fairfield University Men's Lacrosse to a 9-8 lead over visiting Towson on Senior Day on Conway Field at Rafferty Stadium, but the Tigers scored four of the game's final five goals to escape with a 12-10 decision. Jake Gilbert paced the Stags' offense with four goals.
 
With the loss, the Stags slip to 4-5 and even their CAA record at 1-1. Towson, which entered the week receiving votes in both major national polls, improves to 6-3 on the year with a 2-0 conference mark.
 
"Our execution has improved every week, we are better lacrosse team today than we were last Saturday," said Head Coach Andrew Baxter. "But we needed to put together a full 60 minutes of high-level execution, and we didn't do that. We'll get back to work and continue to work toward being the best version of ourselves in preparation for another tough league opponent next week."
 
All four of Gilbert's goals came in the first half, including Fairfield's first man-down goal of the season. The quartet of Will Consoli, Bryce Ford, Keegan Lynch and John Okupski each added one goal and one assist to scoring effort, with Luke Okupski and Jake Coleman scoring one goal apiece and Reilly Sullivan dishing out an assist.
 
In the midfield, Dylan Smith split the faceoff battle down the middle, going 13-for-26 against Towson's Matt Constantinides. Smith also grabbed five ground balls while Ryan Lancaster collected four in the defensive midfield.
 
LSM Julian Radossich continued a standout freshman campaign with three caused turnovers and three ground balls. Rory Thompson added two caused turnovers and collected two grounders. In total, the Stags pressured the CAA's highest scoring offense into 16 turnovers and were just the third of the Tigers' nine opponents this spring to hold them under 15 goals.
 
For the second straight week, goalkeeping duties were shared by Will Snyder and Owen Hirsch. Snyder made three saves in the first half and Hirsch turned away seven of the 11 shots he faced after the intermission.
 
Towson was led by a hat trick for Mikey Weisshaar and two goals apiece from Austin Ducommun and Joaquin Villagomez. Matt Nilan had seven stops in the Tigers' cage to preserve the win.
 
The Stags are back on the road next Saturday, March 30 for a 1 p.m. faceoff at Drexel. The Dragons, who fell at #3 Virginia today and host Hampton on Monday, are currently 3-5 overall and 1-1 in the CAA.
 
Action returns to Rafferty Stadium on the following Saturday, April 6, when the Stags host defending CAA Champion Delaware at 1 p.m.