Fairfield women’s lacrosse returns to action today, Feb. 11 at Rafferty Stadium as they take on state rivals UConn at 3 p.m.
This matchup follows the Stags’ 13-6 victory over the University of Rhode Island last Friday, where eight different players got on the scoreboard.
Sophomore Tessa Caputo led the Stags with five points (two goals and three assists), with MAAC Preseason Player of the Year Kelly Haggerty ‘28 and Mary Henry ‘27 both securing hat tricks and one assist.
Head Coach Laura Field shared her thoughts on the season opener, highlighting areas to improve on for the Stags as they get deeper into the schedule:
“I think we still have a lot of work to do in terms of our consistency, in terms of our handling the ebbs and flows of a game with the new rules. The green cards play a huge factor. Being player-up or player-down and how we handle that will make a big difference.”
The new green card rule was introduced to NCAA women’s lacrosse this season, to “curtail physical play outside the critical scoring area… increasing the scenarios when teams have the advantage of playing a player up,” as per the NCAA website.
Green cards are one-minute releasable penalties, and are given to teams committing fouls such as cross checks, blocking, charging, pushing, holding, among others.
UConn presents the Stags with a different challenge; while the Stags’ previous game against URI was the first time the two programs had faced each other, today’s matchup is one between two sides who have played fourteen times previously, with the Huskies coming out on top with eleven victories over the Stags.
Last year’s fixture between these Connecticut-based teams finished 18-5 in favor of the Huskies, where UConn redshirt senior Rayea Davis scored a career-high six goals.
UConn heads into Wednesday’s matchup after an 11-12 double overtime loss to Drexel University, whom the Stags will also face later this season.
Despite outscoring their opponents 4-1 in the final quarter, the Huskies were unable to maintain their attacking energy, conceding the game-winning goal with one minute left in the double overtime period.
UConn’s freshman Hadley Bethke was a fundamental force in the Huskies’ attacking efforts, netting five goals in her first collegiate game.
This is another non-conference game for Fairfield, providing the Stags with further opportunities to gain experience and insight in preparation for conference matchups that will count towards MAAC standings.