The Fairfield University women's lacrosse team opened its 2008 season on Wednesday with a near upset of #13 Yale, falling 9-8 in New Haven.  The Stags fall to 0-1, while the Bulldogs are now 1-0.

After Yale scored 61 seconds into the contest, the Stags roared back with a pair of their own.  Kristen Coleman netted back-to-back goals at the 27:37 and 26:20 marks to put Fairfield ahead for the first time.  The teams would trade goals the remainder of the half, including a third tally from Coleman, as the Stags took a 4-3 lead at the intermission.

Yale opened the second half on the attack and tallied four goals in the first 5:49 of the half, taking a 7-4 lead.  The Stags answered that charge with a run of their won.  Kelly Barnes began the comeback with a free position goal at 24:11 and Rebecca White scored to close the gap to 7-6, 61 seconds later.  The Bulldogs put the lead back to two on a goal with 18:15 left in the game, but again the Stags rallied.

Erin Rigby scored at the 15:15 mark, with an unassisted goal, and Abbey Goodwin netted the game-tying goal at 13:10.  The teams would play scoreless for the next 12 minutes, until Lauren Taylor put home the game-winner for the Bulldogs with 1:30 left in the contest.

Coleman led all scorers with her three tallies.  Rigby also had three points, with a goal and two assists.  White finished with a pair of goals and Goodwin had a goal and an assist.  White also had a team-high four caused turnovers and four ground balls.

The Stags held an advantage in draw controls in the game winning 12 of the 19 contested.  Rigby, Katie von Hoffmann, Caroline Madrak, White and Coleman each recorded a pair of draw controls in the win.  Fairfield touched net on eight of its 15 shots, while the Bulldogs took 22 shots for their nine tallies.  The Stags were also one shy in the ground ball battle, 17-16.

Lauren Chatnik made three saves in net for the Stags in playing the entire contest.  Her Yale counterpart recorded four saves in her 60 minutes of action.

Fairfield continues its early season schedule in-state, traveling to Sacred Heart on Friday.