The Marist women’s lacrosse team’s season came to a close with a 20-10 defeat to the Fairfield Stags.
Fairfield (9-7, 7-1 MAAC) entered the contest aiming to secure the MAAC regular season title, having already confidently clinched a playoff appearance. Meanwhile, Marist (3-14, 2-6 MAAC) had their playoff hopes dashed in their loss to Niagara, with the defeat marking their fifth consecutive season finishing in the bottom three seeds of the MAAC.
Sophomore midfielder Madison Leale made her first collegiate start for the Red Foxes and made the most of it. She finished the day with her first career hat-trick, joining herself with sophomore attacker Anne Shine as the lone bright spots for the Marist offense.
This game was the third time the Stags netted 20 goals, finishing the season second in goals per game in the MAAC, averaging 12.56 every outing.
Leading her team was senior attacker Grace Slater, who poured in six goals. Her 39 goals in only 13 games landed her fourth in goals per game in the MAAC. Alongside her, the Stags’ goal leader, sophomore attacker Kelly Haggerty, contributed four of her own to secure 40 goals for the season.
Marist was outshot 33-20 and beaten in the draw control 24-8, team statistics that they’ve found themselves trailing in for most games this season.
After the first quarter of play, Marist held a one-goal lead behind two quick goals from Leale. After tacking on another goal from Shine, Marist was up 4-2 in the second quarter.
However, Fairfield stormed back with five unanswered goals, accentuated by back-to-back goals from Slater in less than a minute. Marist closed the second half trailing 7-5 after Shine scored with four seconds remaining.
Matters went out of hand for the Foxes in the third quarter, surrendering a 3-0 run as part of a larger 6-2 advantage for the Stags in the period, entering the final frame down 13-7.
Marist could not escape the six-point deficit, as Fairfield steadily kept the game out of reach, then unleashing a 4-0 run in the final six minutes to close out the game, 20-10.
Edited by Dan Aulbach
Photo from Kira Crutcher
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