The women’s lacrosse team won its 13th game in a row on Sunday against Canisius, improving its record to 13-1 overall and 5-0 in the MAAC.
Fairfield now holds the longest winning streak and are tied for the most wins in the nation. Only two teams have a better win-loss record than the Stags. Their lone loss came in the first game of the season at the hands of No. 13, Yale.
The Stags have had success on both sides of the field. The team’s scoring offense is fourth in the nation. While its scoring defense is 31st in the nation, the Stags rank fourth in both draw controls and caused turnovers.
Fairfield also swept the MAAC weekly awards for the second time this season, winning offensive player, defensive player and rookie of the week.
“[Consistency] definitely helps because it seems that when our attack is doing really well our defense may be slacking a little bit,” said Head Coach Beth Loffredo. “But sometimes when our attack isn’t quite doing it, our defense really steps up. Somehow we balance out and we are getting in more goals than we are letting it.”
Loffredo added, “It’s working, when they both work well together, it’s amazing.” The defense aided the Stags in the team’s win against Caninius. Junior goalkeeper Lauren Chatnik ’09 recorded a season-high 14 saves, including 10 in the second half when Fairfield did not allow a goal. Chatnik boasts a goals-against average of 10.11 per game, which ranks 27th in the nation.
“On Sunday, [the defense] played an unreal game against Canisius and just took over the game,” said Loffredo. “Lauren Chatnik had 14 saves and [Senior] Mary Vallely had at least 3 caused turnovers and our defense had a ton of groundballs. They just came up with everything that was falling. Anything that was in their area, they were coming up with. It’s really important when our attack isn’t always scoring, when we are having little lulls, the defense picked it up big time.
“They came up with what they need to come up with in order for us to win,” said Loffredo.
Vallely, one of the team’s defensive captains, ranks 13th in the nation in caused turnovers.
Leading the attack is freshman Kristen Coleman ’11, who has won a MAAC weekly award every week this season and most recently won the MAAC Rookie of the Week. Coleman also broke the single-season goal record and finished the weekend with 50 goals, besting Loffredo’s old record. She is ranked seventh in the nation in points and needs only three more points to break Fairfield’s single-season record.
“She just has good chemistry with a lot of the different attackers,” said Loffredo.
“We have almost the same attack returning from last year, but she’s just a piece of that puzzle that we’ve kind of been missing. She makes things happen; if not for herself, than for other people which is big. When teams are shutting her off, other people are stepping up. We have a good balance in there.”
Sophomore Erin Rigby ’10 has also played a large role in the Stags’ success. Her play last week earned her the MAAC Offensive Player of the Week for the second time this season. Rigby has 36 goals and 13 assists on the season, ranking her second in both categories behind Coleman on the Stags. Rigby also ranks 10th in the nation in draw controls, averaging 3.23 per game.
“She’s so important,” said Loffredo. “She’s one of those people who is very hard to compete against when it comes to groundballs. She’s very athletic and knows how to box out her opponents and come up with a groundball. When we have a hard time with the draw control, we put her there specifically to come up with it.”
Fairfield has three games remaining on the schedule, all at home. The Stags will face last year’s MAAC Champions LeMoyne, which is now an independent team.
“I think it will be a big test for us,” said Loffredo. “We know that LeMoyne has been so strong in the past few years. I think we have a team that can definitely run with them and hopefully [Lemoyne] can run with us. It is going to be a great game that I think we are all really excited for. It’s a pretty big out-of-conference matchup.”
With the season winding down and owning a stellar record, Fairfield is still focusing on improving to become the best it can be.
“Coach Waldvogel and I have really stressed that we have to get better every game, every day,” said Loffredo. “We can’t just settle for doing well because, at the end of the day, that may not be all it takes.
We are just trying to get better every day, every game. I think that’s really important for us.”
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