The Fairfield women’s lacrosse team finished their regular season in buckets of rain as they crushed Iona, 16-5, on Alumni Field April 23.
Fairfield improved to 7-9 overall and 5-2 in the MAAC, entering the tournament as the third seed. The Stags will face second-seeded Canisius in the semifinals on Friday afternoon.
The Stags were expected to finish sixth in the pre-season polls, but with magnificent play from their co-captain Beth Loffredo ’06 and a great group of supporting players, the team has exceeded most expectations.
“Now that the team has confidence, I think expectations will be higher for this season as well as next season,” said Head Coach Stacey McCue. “But, now I think the team expects that.”
The Stags showed this intensity, netting five goals in the first eight minutes of the game against the Gaels and continued to dominate, scoring six more goals to end the half 11-1 and take control of the game. Rebecca White ’09 and Ashley Chappell ’07 led the Stags with three goals each, finishing with five and four points, respectively. Loffredo and Abbey Goodwin ’09 each scored three points in the win.
“From the beginning, we knew we had a lot of talent,” said McCue. “The girls kept working hard and we turned up the intensity during the season.”
Goodwin and Lauren Chatnik ’09 both received MAAC honors this week, as Goodwin earned her second “Rookie of the Week” award this season and Chatnik earned her first “Defensive Player of the Week” award in her first three starts with the team.
Loffredo earned her own share of accomplishments this season as the all-time leader in goals (134) and points (172) in school history.
“This season was a huge success for me, personally and for the team,” said Loffredo. “We had our rough spots during the season, but we got through them. Our attitude in general has changed, and we know how good we are now.”
After a 14-9 loss to Canisius, the team is entering the MAACs on a three-game winning streak.
“I don’t have to do that much to get the team fired up for the tournament,” said McCue. “They are already fired up and they want that second chance at Canisius.”
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