Pictured Above: Senior Megan Drum
(photo by John McCreary)
NCAA BRACKET
Box Score
Fairfield, CT – Trailing by a 10-7 count seven minutes into the second half, the two-time defending Northeast Conference (NEC) champion Wagner women's lacrosse team used a 4-0 run to take the lead, as part of a a game-ending 8-3 surge, in knocking off Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) champion Fairfield 15-13 in NCAA Championship Opening Round play on Tuesday at Rafferty Stadium.
In winning an NCAA opening round game for the second straight year, having defeated Mercer 13-9 on Staten Island in 2018, the Green & White improve to 16-3 on the season and earn a date at Ivy Princeton (14-3) on Friday to face the Ivy League champion Tigers who will be making their 27
th NCAA tournament appearance and seventh straight. Opening draw between Wagner and Princeton is set for 7:00 p.m.
"We showed a lot of grit and really gutted it out today," said first-year head coach
Michelle Tumolo. "We battled it out all season and I'm just proud of this group. When our backs were against the wall, we came up big against a great Fairfield team. I told our team that they need to fight, they're not going to give us an easy game, we knew that. We just had to keep battling it out, being tough, and never giving up."
Today's victory, which extends Wagner's all-time single-season program win mark, also runs the Seahawks' winning streak to seven games, snapped Fairfield's 11-game winning streak in the process.
Senior attacker
Megan Drum was Wagner's leading goal scorer with five, while 5'1" sophomore
Erin Kerstetter had her full arsenal on display, as the Northeast Conference (NEC) Midfielder of the Year amassed seven points on four goals and three assists, in addition to scooping up six ground balls and collecting three draw controls.
None of Kerstetter's four goals were more important than the unassisted one she buried with 6:40 to play, which ended a 2-0 Fairfield run and gave the Seahawks the lead for good at 14-13.
Junior second-team All-NEC attacker
Stephanie Falcone chimed in with a hat trick, freshman midfielder
Maria Henwood sank a career-best two goals, while sophomore attacker
Stefani Peluso dished out a team-high three assists. In goal, redshirt senior
Kelsey Fee had seven saves in 44:07 of action. Sophomore Maddie Seims extended her program single-season goal record to 62 with a big second-half free position shot conversion that tied the game at 10-10. While a major focal point of Princeton's defense throughout, Seims made a large impact in other areas, including collecting a team and season-high eight draw controls.
Also playing a key role in the win was freshman goalie
Lauren DiStefano who saw a crucial 15:53 of action, bridging the first and second halves, coming up with five important saves before first-year head coach turned back to her second-team All-NEC choice, Fee, for the game's stretch run.
Brooke Gallagher paced the Stags with six points (3g, 3a), while Diana DeVita added four points (3g, 1a), while goalie Olivia Conquest made nine saves.
Statistically, the teams were dead even in shots with 32 apiece, while Fairfield held the edge in ground balls (26-19) and draw controls (17-13). The Seahawks were 4-of-9 on free positIon shots, while Fairfield was 4-of-9 on FPO's.
