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FAIRFIELD, Conn. – Freshman Tess O'Brien fueled a second half comeback for Vermont, but Fairfield scored a pair of late goals to slip past the Catamounts, 4-2, in America East field hockey action Friday at University Field.
 
Vermont trailed by two goals with 15 minutes remaining in the contest before O'Brien tallied a pair of goals in a span of under four minutes. The rookie cut the deficit to 2-1 after one-timing a pass from Kimmy Lizotte past goalie Caitlin Bennett. The tally was O'Brien's first of her career.
 
Just a few minutes later, O'Brien tied the game up at 2-2 with her second goal of the contest. The rookie picked up a loose ball near goal and finished it off to even the score in the 59th minute.
 
Ann Burgoyne put Fairfield back ahead just over two minutes later with her third goal of the game. Kaitlyn Taddeo centered a pass, which was deflected in by Burgoyne.
 
Burgoyne added an insurance tally in the final minute of play to secure the 4-2 victory for Fairfield.
 
The Stags opened the scoring midway through the first period on Burgoyne's first goal of the contest. Taddeo collected her first assist of the afternoon on the play.
 
Early in the second period, Fairfield widened its lead to 2-0 on another tally from Burgoyne. The sophomore was set up by Emily McCauley, who registered an assist on the play.
 
Caitlin Bennett stopped four shots to earn the win in goal for Fairfield. Rookie Lena Benwood took the loss for Vermont despite a 10-save effort, which was her third double-digit save performance of the season.
 
Fairfield improves to 6-11 overall and 1-3 in conference, while Vermont falls to 2-14 and 1-3 in America East.
 
The Catamounts travel to Worcester, Massachusetts to take on Holy Cross in their final road game of the season on Sunday, October 26 at 1:05 p.m. Links to live video and stats of the contest are available here.