NEW ROCHELLE, NY - The Iona College lacrosse team concluded 2011 regular season play by hosting Fairfield at Mazzella Field.  The Stags (12-4, 6-0 MAAC) claimed a 12-6 victory over the Gaels (5-11, 3-3 MAAC) to finalize their regular season championship.

Fairfield's Melanie Raso led all players with five points on three goals and two assists.  Raso notched her first tally of the day in the seventh minute to put the Stags up 2-0, a lead which they would never relinquish.  Elizabeth Coholan scored from free position and later assisted on a goal by Kylie Gregory to help pull Iona to within one on two occasions, 2-1 and 3-2. 

From there, the Stags registered four of the final five first half goals to lead 7-3 at the break and added two more unanswered over 20:40 of the second half.  The Gaels cut a 9-3 spread down to 9-5 with goals from Coholan and Caitlyn Collins.  Fairfield led 11-6 when Jenna Slowey added one final marker off a feed from Katie Mackay with six seconds remaining.

Fairfield led 14-13 in ground balls and 11-8 in draw controls while Iona held a 25-24 edge in shots.  Goalkeeper Maria Ortiz made six saves in the loss, and Katie Keenan saved seven for the Stags.

Iona will host the 2011 MAAC Lacrosse Championships next weekend on April 29 and May 1.