Philadelphia, Pa. - The Fairfield women's lacrosse team, playing in its first-ever NCAA Tournament, mounted a furious rally in the final 10 minutes of play, falling two goals short, 10-8, to #4 Penn at Vidas Field on Sunday. The Stags out scored the Quakers 6-5 in the second half of the game and the eight goals was the fourth-highest single-game total allowed by Penn, who entered the tournament as the top-ranked defense in the nation.
The Stags finish the year with a 17-3 mark, equaling the program record for victories in a season.
The Quakers, 14-2, built their largest lead of the game, 8-4, with 9:57 to play in the game, when Fairfield began its comeback. Abbey Goodwin score on a free position shot with 9:08 to play. Penn pushed the lead back to four, 9-5 with 7:20 to play, and the Stags cut it back to three with an unassisted goal from Brittany Bare 25 seconds later.
Penn scored its final goal with 6:15 to play and the Stags put the pressure on the final minutes of the game. Rebecca White scored on a free position shot with 3:13 to play and Kim Fuchs got the Stags to within two goals, 10-8, with a free position tally with 81 seconds to play.
Lauren Chatnik made 11 saves, eight in the second half, in net for the Stags, while also picking up three ground balls.
White finished the game with three goals, netting all three shots she put on net. Brittany Bare had two goals, while Goodwin, Fuchs and Kristen Coleman each scored once.
Kelly Barnes equaled Chatnik for a team-high three ground balls as well as winning two draw controls. Erin Rigby had three draw controls and dished out an assist, while Kylee Martin added an assist, ground ball and a draw control.
White's hat trick gives her 129 career goals, second all-time, while her 171 points will put her third in program history. Chatnik adds to her program record saves total, graduating with 626.