March 15, 2003

VILLANOVA, Pa. - Katie Mannix (Crofton, Md.) and Bess Hanley (Lutherville, Md.) each scored three goals to lead Villanova past Fairfield in a women's lacrosse game played here on a sunny afternoon at Villanova Stadium. Villanova improves to 2-1 on the season (1-0 Patriot League) while the Stags are now 1-2.

Beth Loffredo opened the scoring with the first of her three goals at the 2:53 mark of the first half to lift Fairfield to an early 1-0 edge. But the Wildcats scored the next three goals, including one by Hanley and another by Mannix to build a 3-1 edge before the game was 15 minutes old.

Loffredo's second goal of the afternoon at 13:05 cut the Fairfield deficit to 3-2. However, the 'Cats scored four unanswered goals to extend their advantage to 7-2 when Hanley scored at the 17:44 mark of the first half. Villanova took a 9-3 edge into halftime and then coasted home from there.

Other Villanova standouts on this afternoon included senior midfielder Meghan Carolan (Hicksville, N.Y.), who contributed a pair of goals and an assist and freshman Cindy Koza (Garnet Valley, Pa.) who also had two goals and an assist. Freshman Jess McGrattan (Rochester, N.Y.) made eight saves in goal for the Wildcats.

Next up for Villanova is a road game at La Salle this Wednesday at 3:30 p.m.