Number 19 ranked Fairfield hosted Iona on Wednesday, March 29 on Conway Field at Rafferty Stadium. The Stags immediately jumped out to a 9-0 lead against their Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference rival. The Stags continued to dominate for the remainder of the game winning 16-6. Graduate student Elizabeth Talluto led the Stags with six points.
This win moved the Stags to 8-1 including a 2-0 in conference record. The loss left Iona with a 6-3 record and handed them their first in-conference loss with a 1-1 record.
“Iona may be one of the best teams in the MAAC. They’re a good, physical team. Which is something that we don’t always match up well against,” Head Coach Laura Field stated. “We did a great job of controlling possession and fighting for draws and 50/50 ground balls. On offense, we kept the ball moving and that led to a lot of assisted goals, which is a focus for us.”
Talluto had five goals and one assist on her career day which extended her team high 31 points. In addition to Talluto, graduate student Libby Rowe had a hat-trick, graduate student Maggie Fort and Amanda Kozak ‘24 also each had two goals and one assist for three point nights. Rylee Harrell ‘24, Grace Slater ‘24, Kelly Haggerty ‘27 and Brooke Marotti ‘25 each added another tally to the Stags score sheet.
Overall the Stags unsurprisingly dominated the stat sheet totalling 40 shots to Iona’s 21 and having 24 ground balls compared to Ionas 15. The Stags also won 19 of the 26 faceoff draws giving them a distinct advantage in the faceoff circle.
On Saturday the Stags extended their win streak to nine with another dominant conference win, winning 19-8. The game started off even with Canisius keeping it even after the first quarter. After the 4-4 start the Stags outscored Canisius in the second quarter taking the 8-6 lead. The third quarter saw the Stags double their score and hold Canisius scoreless in the third quarter. The fourth quarter was less eventful with the Stags putting up another three and Canisius tallying two.
This win also was Laura Fields 100th as the leader of the Stags. This win put the Stags at 9-1 on the year and at an undefeated 3-0 MAAC record.
Laura Field is already the Stags all-time wins leader with a 100-46 (.685) record in nine seasons with the Stags. This was also her 50th conference win with a 50-12 (.806) record.
Kozak had two points, one goal and one assist to give her 100 career points. Talluto added another five goals to her total on the season which gave her 190 total points which ties her for second place on the all-time points list for the Stags, tying her with Erin Rigby ‘10. Haggerty scored a career high four goals and Rowe scored a hat-trick.
“I think the first half was more reflective of the matchup and of how talented Canisius is. But I thought our team made some great adjustments to their approach that helped us pull away in the second half,” Said Field. “The draw group was excellent again today. The way we dominated possession helped us pull away and stopped Canisius from getting into a flow where their offense can be at its most dangerous.”
Fairfield once again dominated the stat sheet with 33 shots to Canisius’ 15 with 22 draw controls of the 29 and 16 ground balls to Canisius’ 13. However the Stags did have 19 turnovers compared to Cainsius’ 13 and only eight caused turnovers while Canisius had 12.
The Stags will have two road games next week, the first at Marist. For more information visit www.fairfieldstags.com.
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