Fairfield entered the Tri-State conference championship weekend with a few unfortunate
injuries, but a fierce desire to push themselves to their best performances. And they did with
grace and teamwork.
Fairfield played extremely clean rugby, with fast and strong support at the rucks, stunning the
MSU in the first four minutes with a series of phases of a key scrum 15 meters out, drawing in
the defense and creating space out wide for outside center Maggie Kelly '25 to wrap around the
outside to draw first blood.
MSU played a similar structure to our team but made a few key errors that resulted in badly
timed turnovers, including a missed catch that flanker Tia Stanton '26 plucked to take advantage
and take the ball out of our half. Another knock-on was snatched by number eight Lauren
Cuneen '26 to create another series of phases to move the ball across the field for winger Laura
Garofalo '26 to run into the corner for the second try (assist by Kelly '25). A third try came over
three minutes later as inside center Devyn Ruiz '24 punched through a gap to touch down the
try between the posts.
MSU then came back with energy, and FU lost focus, and two high tackle penalties and an
unluck knock-on created too many advantages for MSU in our 22, resulting in a multi-phase
push-in try by our opponents in the 26th minute. The try woke up the team, and they
proceeded to focus on maintaining possession. a penalty in MSU's 22 allowed us to take a
penalty kick which was successfully converted.
MSU continued their attack, but key kicking by Julia Demetropoulous '25 gave us relief out of
our 22, and decisive carries by Kelly '25 and wing Simona Gheorghe '25 brought us back inside
MSU's 22, where Kelly again pushed the ball up the field before passing to Garofalo '26 for
another decisive try.

Unfortunately, MSU was unable to bring subs, and had only 13 players on the field at the half.
They attempted to continue, but at the 52nd minute, MSU retired, thus ending the match.
Fairfield forwards were dominant in scrums, earning penalties as the MSU pack collapsed from
the drives. Kudos to props Tina Coleman '24, Hannah Bershefsky '25, hooker Kayla Fox '25, and
second rows Veronica McAdams '25 and Ava Hiel '26 for powering up the scrum. Tremendous
defensive effort by Coleman '24 and ever-present ruck support by Cunneen '26, earning her the
forward BOP. Fullback Demetropoulous '25 earned her BOP by converting 3/5 kicks and earning
3 points with a penalty kick.
Match Report submitted by Jane Kim – Head Coach, Women's Rugby