WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J.- Monmouth University's (0-1) women's lacrosse team opened up the season a 14-7 setback to Fairfield University (1-0) on Saturday afternoon on Kessler Field.

After leading 7-2 at halftime, the Stags opened up a 12-2 lead in the second half before Monmouth rallied to outscore Fairfield 5-2 in the final 10 minutes of the game.

Junior attacker Addie Reilly led all scorers with a five-goal, four point outburst. Monmouth goalie Katie Donohoe (Peterborough, Ontario/Holy Cross Secondary) made nine saves as the Hawks were outshot 30-17 in the contest.

"I was disappointed we were not as composed as we should have been," said Head Coach Denise Wescott. "Fairfield did a nice job fighting for the draw, and stopping our drives to goal. We settled down in the second half and got much better shots off. But we are going to have to play 60 minutes to win games."

The Stags opened up their five-goal halftime lead by scoring five consecutive goals to start the second frame, which was eventually stopped by Kaleigh Gibbons' (Candia, N.H./Central/Robert Morris) goal with 13:19 left in regulation. During that span, Reilly scored three times, with Fairfield's Melanie Raso and Amanda Best scoring the other two markers. Senior Sam Savona (Jackson, N.J./Jackson Liberty/FDU) and junior Cassie Campasano (West Islip, N.Y./West Islip/Jacksonville) added consecutive goals to cut the Fairfield lead to 12-5. Each team scored twice in the final 6:18 to end the scoring at 14-7.

Fairfield took 3-0 lead over the first eight minutes of the game before sophomore Emily Barbieri (Parsippany, N.J./DePaul Catholic) netted her first collegiate goal at the 19:24 mark.  Fairfield's lead pushed to 6-1 after a string of goals from 13:41 to 4:42 before Barbieri struck for the second time in the match to cut the lead to 6-2 with 26 seconds left. Reilly added a goal with seven seconds left to give her squad a 7-2 cushion going into the break.

Stathius had a pair of assists and led the Hawks in ground balls (4), draw controls (3) and caused turnovers with two. Sophomore Meaghan Hess (Lake Stevens, Wash./Lake Stevens High School) finished with a goal and an assist while Savona had two points on a goal and an assist.

Reilly led all scorers with nine points, while Raso added five points on three goals and two assists. Keenan and backup goalie Chelsey Sidaras combined for six saves.

Monmouth controlled the draw to the tune of 13-10 but committed 19 turnovers compared with Fairfield's 12. Fairfield leads the all-time series 6-5, including winning the last three matchups.

The Hawks are back in action next Friday, when they host Delaware at 3 p.m.