April 22, 2006
The Fairfield University women's lacrosse team secured the third seed in next weekends Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Lacrosse League Tournament on the strength of a 13-6 win over host Manhattan College this afternoon. The Stags improve to 6-9 overall and 4-2 in MAAC play, while the Jaspers fall to 6-8 overall and 3-3 in league play.
Beth Loffredo became the school's all-time leader in points scored early in the first half. Her first goal, a free position shot at 25:31 tied her with Jessica Conahan (2001-04) as the program leader with 167 points. She wasted no time in taking the lead to herself however, touching net against at 25:05, off of a pass from Sarah Masterson. Loffredo would finish with three goals and three assists, six points, and 172 for her career.
 Beth Loffredo became the school's all-time leading points scorer with three goals and three assists on Saturday, and 172 for her career.  |
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The Stags started hot again, as Masterson scored 32 seconds into the game, an unassisted goal. Loffredo's goals gave Fairfield the 3-0 edge, before back-to-back Jasper goals. Rebecca White netted a pass from Loffredo at 16:44, for the 4-2 edge. The Jaspoers rallied to tie the score on consecutive goals at 15:05 and 8:53, but the Stags ended the half on a 2-0 run, for a 6-4 lead at intermission. Abbey Goodwin scored both those goals, at 8:24 from White and unassisted at 1:44.
Masterson started the second half off in the same way as the first, netting an unassisted goal 14 seconds into the period. Manhattan made its last run, scoring twice, at 29:27 and 29:16 to close to 7-6. The Stags defense would not allow another goal the remainder of the game, as the offense rattled of six unanswered goals to end the game.
Lara Hannigan scored at 23:40, unassisted, and Loffredo netted her third of the day, also unassistsed, at 14:53. Loffredo fed Rebecca White for her second goal with 4:49 to play and Amy Neville made the score 11-6 with an unassisted goal with 3:40 to play. Loffredo found White for a third time with 3:20 to play and Julia Poli wrapped up the scoring with an unassisted goal with 2:06 to play.
Rebecca White ended the outing with four points, on three goals and an assist, as well as recording two draw controls and two ground balls. Masterson had three points, including two goals, as well as two draw controls.
Loffredo added three draw controls, two ground balls and a caused turnover in the contest. Neville, who had a goal and four ground balls, led the way with two caused turnovers.
Lauren Chatnik continued to excel in net for the Stags, as she earned her second straight win, playing the entire contest. She made 12 saves, including seven in shutting down the Jaspers in the second half, while allowing only six goals. Her counterpart for Manhattan, Ashley Devins had eight saves and allowed all 13 goals.
The Jaspers had two goals each from Jenny Carman and Molly Pheterson.
Manhattan out shot the Stags on the day, 30-27, and won the ground ball battle, 48-27. The Stags won 11 draw controls, dropping 10, and had five fewer turnovers, 22-17.
The Stags will close out the regular season at home on Sunday, April 23, hosting MAAC foe Iona College at 1 p.m. The game will be preceded by a ceremony to honor the two Fairfield seniors, Loffredo and Katie Voight.
The MAAC Tournament is being hosted by Iona College, next Friday, April 28 and Sunday, April 30. The Stags will be the #3 seed and will face #2 Canisius in the second semifinal. The first semifinal will begin at 1 p.m. with top-seed LeMoyne, taking on the winner of Sunday's game between Manhattan and Marist.
