The UConn women’s lacrosse team continued their winning streak on Wednesday, defeating Fairfield by a score of 18-5. The Huskies were led by a trio of hat tricks from Rayea Davis, Ava Plata and Eliza Bowman.
It was Davis’ show in the first quarter. She got the scoring started for the Huskies with a goal that escaped Fairfield’s freshman goalie Keira Furey. That was just the beginning. Davis tallied a second goal off a free position shot and quickly added a third in the same fashion. With 9:10 left in the first quarter, Davis had already netted a hat trick, the fourteenth of her career and second of the season. Davis scored again off a nice feed from Emma Dacey, and the Huskies took a 4-0 lead with 6:09 left in the first quarter.
Fairfield’s Kelly Haggerty and Mary Henry scored the next two goals, and it seemed like the momentum was shifting to the visitors’ side. The Huskies took the momentum right back as Davis buried her fifth goal of the game. Seconds later, Karsyn Burnash joined the scoring party and UConn stretched their lead back to four. Later in the second quarter, freshmen Anna Magennis and Megan O’Brien scored their first collegiate goals. Davis and Burnash added one more goal each, and the Huskies took a commanding 10-3 lead into the half.
After allowing Davis to fire 11 shots toward the net in the first half, Fairfield changed their defensive strategy coming out of the half. Despite Davis not recording a shot on goal in the second half, the Huskies continued their domination. Eve McGrogan scored to open the third, followed by Abby Beran, who became the third Husky of the game to record their first collegiate goal. In the final minutes of the third quarter, Bowman found the back of the net twice, and Fairfield managed to get on the board for the first time in the second half. The Huskies ended the third quarter leading 14-4.
It was more of the same in the fourth quarter for the Huskies. After Fairfield’s Haley Burns scored her second goal of the game to cut the lead to single digits, Plata responded with an unanswered hat trick. All three of Plata’s goals were unassisted and scored in a 6-minute span. To put a cap on a dominant team performance, Bowman scored her third goal of the afternoon and UConn’s eighteenth of the day. Bowman became the third Husky to record a hat trick in the contest.
UConn’s offensive performance stands out, but the Huskies’ defense and goaltending was also elite. Goalie Tori Cini held down the fort for the Huskies, saving seven shots on 12 attempts. Fairfield’s Furey had a much busier day, facing 25 shots from the Huskies. UConn finished with more draw controls (17) and groundballs won (9) than Fairfield and committed fewer turnovers.
Next up, the Huskies will head to the U.S. Lacrosse Facility in Sparks, Md. to face off against No. 18 James Madison on Saturday at noon.