Fairfield, Conn. ­ The Fairfield University women's lacrosse team dropped its home opener 14-7 to visiting Yale University on Alumni Field, in a non-conference contest. The Stags fall to 0-2 on the year, while the Bulldogs start the season 1-0.

Yale jumped out to a 7-0 lead with 12:52 to play in the first half, in large part to Lauren Taylor. She scored three of the first seven goals, while assisting on three of the other tallies. She would finish the game with six goals and three assists.

Fairfield got on the board with 7:43 to play in the first half, when Mary Vallely netted an unassisted goal. Rebecca White made the score 7-2 3:31 into the second half, but Yale answered with a pair of goals to push the lead to 9-2. Vallely scored again at the 17:08 mark, but the Bulldogs tacked on two more goals for the 11-3 edge with 9:05 left. The Stags would out score Yale 4-3 over the final 7:47 of play, bug get no closer then the seven goals of the final margin.

Vallely led the Stags with three goals, while White added a pair. Rookie Nina Tedeschi touched net once and dished out a pair of assists for Fairfield. Sarah Masterson added a goal and Amy Kelleher had one assist in the effort. Kat Peetz and Jessica Sturgill both scored twice for the Bulldogs, who received goals from seven players.

Lauren Chatnik stopped 13 shots in the net for the Stags, playing the entire contest. Ellen Cameron earned the win for Yale, with 55:29 played and seven saves, with five goals allowed. Casey Littlefield played the final 4:31 making a pair of saves and allowing two goals.

Yale out shot the Stags 44-20 in the contest, including 21-6 in the first half. Yale earned 14 draw controls to the Stags nine, and the Bulldogs had 34 ground balls to the Stags 25. Fairfield is back in action on Saturday, traveling to Boston College.

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Lauren Taylor, a third team preseason All-America pick, opened the 2007 season with six goals and three assists as Yale bested Fairfield 14-7 Monday afternoon.

Yale (1-0) scored the first seven goals of the game, and Taylor had a hand in six of them. Her free-position shot at 28:18 started the scoring, and she added two more goals and three more assists before the Stags got on the board with 7:43 left in the half.

Taylor tacked on three more goals in the second half as the Bulldogs pulled away. Kat Peetz and Jessica Sturgill finished with two goals each. Jenna Block, Meredith Callahan, Marya Myers and Jenn Warden also scored.

Ellen Cameron made seven saves, allowing four goals before giving way to Casey Littlefield (two saves) for the final 4:31. Jess Champion's four caused turnovers led Yale defensively. Fairfield (0-2) got 13 saves from Lauren Chatnik.

Yale returns to action Wednesday at UConn.

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Score by Period       1  2  Tot
-------------------------------
YALE................  7  7 - 14
Fairfield Stags.....  1  6 -  7
 
YALE SCORING:
GOALS: Taylor, Lauren 6; Peetz, Kat 2; Sturgill, Jessica 2;
       Warden, Jenn 1; Block, Jenna 1; Callahan, Meredith 1;
       Myers, Marya 1.
ASSISTS: Taylor, Lauren 3; Block, Jenna 1; Callahan, Meredith 1;
         Peck, Lawrie 1; Warden, Jenn 1.
 
Fairfield Stags SCORING:
GOALS: Vallely, Mary 3; White, Rebecca 2; Tedeschi; Nina 1;
       Masterson, Sarah 1.
ASSISTS: Tedeschi, Nina 2; Kelleher, Amy 1.
 
SHOTS BY PERIOD       1  2  Tot
-------------------------------
YALE................ 21 23 - 44
Fairfield Stags.....  6 14 - 20
 
GROUND BALLS BY PRD   1  2  Tot
-------------------------------
YALE................ 16 18 - 34
Fairfield Stags..... 11 14 - 25
 
TURNOVERS BY PRD      1  2  Tot
-------------------------------
YALE................ 13 10 - 23
Fairfield Stags..... 16 12 - 28
 
CLEARS BY PERIOD       1     2     Total
-------------------------------------
YALE................  8-9  10-12 - 18-21
Fairfield Stags.....  8-10  9-12 - 17-22
 
FREE-POSITION SHOTS    1     2     Total
----------------------------------------
YALE................  1-3   2-4  -  3-7
Fairfield Stags.....  0-2   1-2  -  1-4
 
SAVES BY PERIOD       1  2  Tot
-------------------------------
YALE................  3  6 -  9
Fairfield Stags.....  6  7 - 13
 
DRAW CONTROLS BY PRD  1  2  Tot
-------------------------------
YALE................  8  6 - 14
Fairfield Stags.....  1  8 -  9

2007-02-26