FAIRFIELD, Conn. – Fairfield University Women's Lacrosse led #19 Denver, 7-6, at halftime of Sunday's game on Conway Field at Rafferty Stadium, but the nationally-ranked Pioneers scored the first nine goals of the second half to pull away for a 15-9 victory. Haley Burns and Charlotte Loughlin each scored two goals for the Stags, and Kelly Haggerty had four points with a goal and three assists.
 
With the loss, the Stags fall to 4-3. Denver, which suffered its lone loss at #13 Stony Book on Friday, improves to 6-1 in victory.
 
"I thought our first half was very strong, offensively and defensively. Even the third quarter, I thought our defense was strong," said Head Coach Laura Field. "That's been the frustrating thing, where we've had great quarters and we've had down quarters, but we haven't seen a full game at a high level. Bur I'm proud of the way we've been fighting, and we're going to keep making the adjustments and putting in the work to start consistently turning in a strong 60 minutes on gamedays."
 
Burns and Loughlin each added an assist to go along with their two goals to post three-points apiece. Burns was also a force in the midfield with three draw controls, two caused turnovers, and two ground balls.
 
Tessa Caputo and Katie Bergen each chipped in one goal and one assist, with Paige Gardner and Sara MacLeod scoring one goal apiece.
 
Brynn Donnelly led the effort on the restart with four draw controls, bringing her career total to an even 300. Donnelly is already Fairfield's career, single-season, and single-game leader on the draw.
 
Lila Berkery also pulled in three draw and had three caused turnovers. Stella Straka added two caused turnovers and two ground balls.
 
In the cage, Whitney Robinson picked up five ground balls in addition to her six saves.
 
The teams traded goals for much of the first half out to a 6-4 Denver lead with 8:50 left in the first half. MacLeod, Gardner, Loughlin, and Burns each supplied a Fairfield goal during that stretch. The end of the first half marked the Stags' biggest run of the day, with Caputo, Loughlin, and Burns all scoring in the final 5:31 of the period to send Fairfield in the break leading the #19 team in the nation, 7-6.
 
After the intermission, however, the Stags were held off the board for 28:36 of the clock time as the Pioneers stormed in front with nine consecutive goals. Bergen and Haggerty each scored to end the drought in the closing 84 seconds to round out the 15-9 final in favor of the visitors.
 
Eva Thomsen-Marr led Denver with three goals and four assists. Olivia Ripple added four goals, an assist, and five draw controls for the Pioneers.
 
Fairfield wraps up the non-conference slate on Wednesday, March 11 at Vermont. The Catamounts are 4-3 on the season, most recently dropping a 14-12 outing on Friday against Villanova.
 
Action then returns to Rafferty Stadium for the start of MAAC action on Saturday, March 21 against Siena. Admission is free for all fans to all Fairfield Women's Lacrosse regular season home games this season.