May 2, 2003

POUGHKEEPSIE, NY - Fourth-seeded Marist College upset top-seeded Fairfield University with an 11-9 victory in the first semifinal game of the 2003 MAAC Women's Lacrosse Championship this afternoon on Leonidoff Field.

Fairfield freshman midfielder Beth Loffredo started off the scoring for the day, netting an unassisted goal less than two minutes in to the first half. Marist sophomore attacker Brandi Petersen responded with her own goal, assisted by senior midfielder Molly Hanley, six minutes later. The score seesawed back and forth to a 3-3 tie, when the Red Foxes broke out and scored nine unanswered goals in the last 14 minutes of the half to own a 9-3 lead at halftime. Peterson scored four of Marist's nine goals in that run.

Marist junior attacker Maria Stehn increased the Red Foxes' lead to 10-4 with a goal six minutes into the second half, assisted by Peterson. But Fairfield began work on a comeback, with one goal apiece from senior midfielder Meghan Main and junior attacker Jessica Conahan to move to 10-5 with 20 minutes left to play. Junior midfielder Katie Tutak would score Marist's final goal of the day, assisted by Peterson, at the 11:16 minute mark. Fairfield then embarked on a 4-0 run in an attempt to tie the game, but fell short of the task as time expired. Main and Conahan scored two goals each in the last 10 minutes of the contest for the Stags.

Red Foxes' sophomore goalie Heather Ripp recorded seven saves in the net for Marist, while the Stags' sophomore Monica Janowitz stopped 11 shots between the pipes for Fairfield.

Marist will play LeMoyne for the MAAC Championship on Sunday, May 4th, at 11:00 a.m.