Fairfield Edged by Villanova, 8-6

Courtesy of Fairfield Athletics

VILLANOVA, Pa. - Freshman Sam Snow (Bainbridge, Wash.) scored four goals but it was not enough as the Fairfield University men's lacrosse team was edged, 8-6, by Villanova University this afternoon.

Snow put the Stags (1-2) on top, 2-0, in the first quarter with a pair of tallies. He opened the period with an unassisted goal at the 14:02 mark and closed out the quarter by stuffing home a pass from John Snellman (Norwalk, Conn.) at 1:47.  

Junior Max Trunz (Upper Brookfield, N.Y.) made the score 3-0 at the start of the second quarter as he was able to put a Ryan Mulford (Crownsville, Md.) pass in the back of the cage.  Villanova (2-1) countered with three unanswered goals of its own to tie the game at the 7:48 mark in the second. Junior Matt Plominski (Port Washington, N.Y.) broke the stalemate at 5:08 to give the Stags the 4-3 lead heading into the break.

The Wildcats put two on the board in the third quarter to take a 5-4 advantage. The Stags did not back down in the fourth quarter as Snow scored back-to-back goals, just 12 seconds apart, to give Fairfield the 6-5 lead with 12:38 left to play. Villanova's Matt Bell answered with a pair of consecutive goals to return the lead to the Wildcats. Bell's game-tying tally came at 6:25 with the go-ahead strike coming at 5:03. Fairfield had a chance late in the fourth quarter, but a Fairfield turnover resulted in a Villanova goal with 47 seconds left.

Senior Joe Marra (Smithtown, N.Y.) made nine saves for the Stags while Dan Gutierrez made 11 stops.

Sophomore Reed Marko (Blue Bell, Pa.) posted five groundballs of the day while junior Steve Golmont (Martinsville, N.J.) had three. Defensively, sophomore Drew Palmer (Webster, N.Y.) had two caused turnovers.

Fairfield held a 27-23 advantage in groundballs and also made good on 17 of 18 clears. Villanova won 11 of the 18 face-offs on the day.

Fairfield will travel to the Kincaid School in Houston, Texas on March 13 to face Notre Dame.