In a game that was largely defined by two teams trading goals on Saturday afternoon on Conway Field at Rafferty Stadium, the day's one true run proved to be decisive. Unfortunately for Fairfield University Men's Lacrosse, it was visiting Villanova that scored the last six goals of the contest to come away with a 12-8 decision. The loss ends a three-game winning streak for the Stags, who will enter the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) portion of their schedule with a record of 5-4. Villanova, which has a short turnaround for a Monday afternoon game at Brown prior to beginning Big East play, evens its mark at 4-4. Fairfield's attack this afternoon was fueled by four players netting two goals apiece. Dylan Beckwith and Taylor Strough maintained their share of the team lead in goals, each potting two markers to run their totals to 21 markers each. Both Stags also handed out on assist on the afternoon. After today's effort coupled with other results around the CAA, Beckwith now leads the conference with 44 points. He is also sitting at 99 points for his career, poised to soon become the 17th member of the Stags' 100-Point Club. Beckwith has notched a point in 17 consecutive outings dating back to the 2018 campaign. Travis Ford, who has scored a goal in every game in which he has appeared this spring, and Jack Brennan also each notched a pair of markers for the Stags. Brennan has tallied seven goals in the last three games since joining Fairfield's starting attack. Rounding out the offense were a trio of rookies – Patrick Drake, Brian Reda and Tyler Wuchte – who each dished out one assist. Leading the way on the defensive end was George Elmquist with five caused turnovers. Elmquist is the third different Stag to cause five turnovers in a game, joining Matt Scanlon – who did it twice – and Matt Petre (Fairfield's single-game archive of caused turnovers dates back to 2004, though the NCAA did not recognize caused turnovers as an official statistic until 2010).. James Corasaniti made 11 saves in the cage for Fairfield to post his fifth double-digit save performance in eight starts this spring. Defense and goalkeeping prevailed early as a strike from Ford just 74 seconds into the contest was the goal for more than 10 minutes of action. After Corey McManus's equalizer for the Wildcats, the Stags got on the run to reclaim the lead late the frame. Following a Corasaniti save, Wuchte came up from his defensive midfield spot and connected with Beckwith to put the Stags back in front, 2-1, with 1:10 left in the frame. Fairfield's first quarter was facilitated in part by Frankie Labetti, who went 3-for-3 with three ground balls to keep the Stags on the attack in the early stages of the game. Labetti added another ground ball to run his total to 66 for the season, cracking the program's single-season top-10 list. Villanova started the second quarter scoring, but the 2-2 deadlock lasted less than a minute as Brennan finished off a pass from Beckwith to put the Stags back in the lead. The Wildcats responded with the game's first instance of back-to-back goals, including the only man-up marker for either side, to take a 4-3 edge. Fairfield had the final goal of the half, with Brennan getting his second of the day to send the contest into the intermission tied at 4-4. The third quarter was the busiest stanza of the afternoon, featuring four goals each way. Three of the strikes came in a span of under two minutes early in the period. Strough started things off, followed by a quick Keegan Khan response for the visitors, and capped by Ford to run the margin to 6-5 in favor of Fairfield. Five minutes would elapse before either team rattled the cage again, with Beckwith as the perpetrator to create the first multi-goal lead of the day at 7-5 with 6:39 remaining in the frame. A goal each way maintained the Stags' advantage at 8-6 heading into the last minute of the third quarter, At that point, McManus completed his hat trick to cut the gap in half with 48 seconds left, and Khan beat the buzzer with the equalizer with 5.5 ticks remaining to send the game into the fourth quarter knotted at 8-8. Villanova rode the momentum of that final minute into the fourth quarter as Kirst scored at the 14:18 mark to put the Wildcats on top, 9-8, for the first time in over 22 minutes of game time. Will Vitton made four of his 14 saves during the last 15 minutes as the Stags were held scoreless for the duration of the quarter. Meanwhile, Villanova added three insurance tallies to pull away with a 12-8 decision. "We've played seven games in three weeks, and I think we ran out of steam down the stretch," said Head Coach Andy Copelan. "That last minute of the third quarter was heartbreaking. Lacrosse is a game of momentum and, unfortunately, we were never able to get the momentum back in the fourth." McManus finished with four goals and an assist for Villanova. Kirst also had a five-point day with three goals and two helpers. Zack Ornstein went 12-for-15 at the faceoff X as the Wildcats resolved early trouble on the draw to ultimately win 16-of-23 for the game. Today's contest began a three-game homestand for the Stags. Fairfield opens CAA play next Saturday, March 30 with a visit from Delaware. The Blue Hens won a 16-13 slugfest at Michigan this afternoon to finish off non-conference play with a league-best record of 7-2. Opening faceoff on Conway Field at Rafferty Stadium is slated for 1 p.m.