April 19, 2006

Final Stats

Poughkeepsie, N.Y. - Eight different Fairfield (5-9/3-2 MAAC) players scored in a 16-10 victory over Marist (4-10/2-3 MAAC) this afternoon. Marist sophomore Jessica O'Brien (Wantagh, N.Y.) came off the bench to score a team-high three goals while classmate Lindsey Diener (Nanuet, N.Y.) recorded four points in the loss.

Fairfield struck early when Ashley Chappell tallied her first of four goals at 27:17, followed less than a minute later by a goal by Mary Vallely. The Red Foxes answered quickly as Diener found freshman Kate Noftsker (Needham, Mass.) for their first goal at 26:02. Diener won the ensuing draw and dished the ball to O'Brien who weaved through the Fairfield defense, scoring her first goal of the day at 15:44, pulling Marist within one, 4-3.

The Stags scored again at 12:18 when Caroline Madrak found Abbie Goodwin before Diener made a nice move past Fairfield's defenders to tally her first goal of the day at 11:10. Fairfield freshman Rebecca White scored at 8:35 before Caitlin Keane added another goal 17 seconds later to put her team up 7-4. The Red Foxes continued to battle and Carnabuci fed a sharp one-time pass to rookie Stephanie Garland (Long Valley, N.J.) for a goal at 7:36. Fairfield's Chappell tallied an unassisted goal to close out scoring for the half with her team up 8-5.

Marist could not clear the ball effectively in the first half, going just 8-20 while the Stags went 5-7. Fairfield also won 10 draw controls to Marist's four.

The Stags picked up where they left off in the second, scoring three straight goals to go up 11-5 at 25:33. Marist captain Diener took matters into her own hands, winning the next draw and taking it straight in for a goal at 25:24. Fairfield's Goodwin brought the score back to 12-6, Stags before Marist scored a pair of goals less than a minute apart from Carnabuci and O'Brien to cut the lead to 12-8 at 12:41. The Stags took a timeout to regroup, after which Lara Hanningan had her first goal of the day to give her team the 13-8 lead.

The Stags outscored the Red Foxes 3-2 during the last six minutes of the contest. Noftstker tallied a goal and an assist during that stretch while O'Brien completed her hat trick.

Marist sophomore Kelsey Haggett (Glastonbury, Conn.) put forth an outstanding defensive effort, shutting down Fairfield's scoring leader Beth Loffredo (44 points on the season), holding her without a goal or an assist. Haggett added three ground balls and three caused turnovers as well.

Diener finished with two goals, two assists and a season-high five draw controls on the day. Classmate Liz Burkhard (Wantagh, N.Y.) snagged 15 saves and five groundballs in goal. Fairfield's Lauren Chatnik recorded seven saves for the win.

The Red Foxes' had a tough time keeping a handle on the ball, finishing the day with 34 turnovers. They improved their clearing efforts in the second, going 10-12 but finished 18-32 on the day. Each squad recorded seven draw controls in the second half.

With two goals and four points today, Diener is now tied for third place on Marist's career goals scored list with 80 and took over fourth place on the career scoring (points) list with 102 (third place: 103).

Marist will be back in action on Saturday when it heads to Iona for another critical MAAC contest at 1:00 p.m. The Red Foxes can still make the upcoming MAAC Tournament, but will need to win both of their games this weekend.