PRINCETON, N.J. – The season may have come to an end with today's 3-1 NCAA Championship second round loss, but the Fairfield University field hockey team walked off knowing that they left everything on the pitch against the second-seeded and third-ranked Princeton University Tigers.

"I am super proud of this team," Head Coach Laura Gebhart said. "We showed up on the national stage and showed that we belong here. When you play the number two seed you can be intimidated but they didn't step with any type of fear. They went at them hard and battled for a full 60 minutes."

Both teams spent a good portion of the first quarter in the middle third with few opportunities developing. Princeton was able to put together a couple of passes that set up the game's first shot, an attempt from leading scorer Pru Lindsey that went wide of the near post.

It took seven minutes before either team was able to take another shot, this time Fairfield's Konni Hofmann tracked down a loose ball and hit a drive that also kicked wide of the target. Some nifty stick work set up the game's first goal as Anna Faulstitch carried the ball into the circle and sent a pass to Izzy Morgan, who one-timed a shot into the goal for a 1-0 lead.

Fairfield's fortunes turned in the second quarter when the Stags earned a corner just a minute into the period. Alice Pifferi inserted the ball and sent it to the top of the circle where Catalina Ness collected the pass. She pushed the ball over to Pilar Mengotti who finished the scoring play with her 10^th goal of the season.

Princeton later took advantage of its own penalty corner, earning the set piece with six minutes remaining in the half. Izzy Morgan started the play by sending the inset pass to Lindsey who set the ball up for Beth Yeager who finished with a drag flick to the upper corner for a 2-1 lead.

The third quarter put Fairfield's back line on alert but the pressure was handled well by the Stags. Princeton was able to put together five shots over the 15 minutes with the best chance coming off the stick of Ella Hampson who carried the ball into the circle and sent a hard shot to the near post. Goalkeeper Payton Rahn was able to put her pad on the shot and turn it aside without any further danger.

Down a goal, Fairfield started to press more in the midfield area which resulted in several opportunities. To gain an extra attacker, the Stags added another attacker when Rahn came off the pitch with five minutes remaining. The Tigers added the third goal with the empty net opportunity as a transition 3-on-2 attack finalized the score.

The Stags had a chance late in the game with a penalty corner that resulted in a couple of shots but the ball would not find the back of the cage.

Rahn finished the match with a pair of saves, giving her six in the two NCAA Tournament matches.