Fairfield University Women's Lacrosse earned its first win of the 2020 season on Wednesday afternoon with 13-6 victory over Columbia. The Stags set season-bests in both goals scored and goals allowed en route to the win on Conway Field at Rafferty Stadium. "We talked about needing to play a team game with everybody supporting each other – assists and multiple scorers on offense and smart rotations and doubles on defense," said Head Coach Laura Field. "This was the first time we saw that this season. This was truly a team win." Columbia started the game on the offensive, netted three goals over the first 6:32 to force a Fairfield timeout. The run included a pair of player-up goals caused by two early Stags' yellow cards. "The early goals we allowed were 'frustration goals' so I wasn't worried too much about trying to slow Columbia's momentum," said Field of her early timeout call. "It was more that we were making mistakes and they were capitalizing on those opportunities. The message in the timeout was to settle down, go back to the game plan and clean up our play." The Stags (1-2) responded to their head coach on both ends of the field, embarking on a 7-0 run that lasted the remainder of the half. Five different goal scorers contributed to the run, with Monika Sivilli and Kelly Horning each scoring a pair to go along with single tallies by Jillian Winwood, Meaghan Graham and Cameryn Dera. Diana DeVita assisted on three of the first-half markers, and Maggie Fort dished out one assist as Fairfield headed into the locker room owning a 7-3 advantage. The Lions scored the first two goals after the intermission, ending their scoreless drought at just over 26 minutes of game time, but Fairfield answered once again as goals from Dera, Fort and Winwood re-established a comfortable lead at 10-5. DeVita assisted on two of those markers, rounding out her career-best five assists – also matching her career high of five points. The Stags ceded just one goal over the final 25 minutes of the action, as Sivilli, Graham and Horning added goals in the tail-end of the second half to round out the final score at 13-6. In addition to the seven Stags that notched a point to today's win, the effort in the midfield and on the defensive end saw a host of contributors. Lindsey Barnes made her first career start in the back row and posted a huge statline with five caused turnovers and five ground balls. Maggie Reynolds scooped five ground balls on defense and two ground balls in the midfield, while Kennedy Slater and Fort each notching two caused turnovers and four ground balls. Horning added to her hat trick on the attack with five caused turnovers, three draw controls and two ground balls. In the cage, Olivia Conquest made nine saves – moving into eighth place on Fairfield's all-time list with 207 stops in her career – to earn the win. "The team defense was outstanding today. We had a ton of ground balls, and a lot of those came from picking up after turnovers that we forced. I'm thrilled with the way we played on that side of the field," noted Field. "We still have things to clean up – we can't be as chippy and commit as many fouls – but our defense turned the tide for us today, and that's something we didn't see in either of our first two games." The Stags topped Columbia in ground balls, 26-22. Fairfield recorded 17 caused turnovers, pressuring the Lions into 25 giveaways overall. Columbia (0-2) was led by a hat trick from Rachel Graff and single goals for Katie Lutz, Chelsea Witteck and Alexandria Absey. Fairfield is back on the road this Saturday, Feb. 22 for an 11 a.m. clash at Hofstra. The Pride is 2-1 on the season with convincing victories over Bucknell and Wagner and their lone setback coming by a 9-8 count to nationally-ranked USC. Action returns to Rafferty Stadium next Wednesday, Feb. 26, when the Stags host Boston University at 3 p.m.