May 8, 2002
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THE GAME: The Notre Dame women’s lacrosse team makes its first-ever appearance in the NCAA women’s lacrosse tournament. The Irish will face 12th-ranked Ohio State on Thursday, May 9 in a 4:00 p.m. game at Moose Krause Stadium. Notre Dame comes into the game with a 12-4 overall record and finished second in the BIG EAST with a 5-1 mark. The Buckeyes, also making their first NCAA appearance, are 11-4 on the season and finished in a three-way tie for second in the American Lacrosse Conference with a 4-2 record. The two teams met earlier in the season on April 9 with the Buckeyes winning at home by a 12-11 score.
IRISH VERSUS BUCKEYES: Today’s game will be the seventh meeting between the two schools with Ohio State holding a 4-2 edge in the first six games. The Irish are 1-2 versus the Buckeyes at Notre Dame and 1-2 in Columbus, Ohio. The two teams met on April 9 at OSU’s Jesse Owens Complex with Ohio State taking a 12-11 decision. In that game, the Irish rallied from a 7-2 deficit to tie the game at 10-10. OSU’s Shannon Miller scored twice in the final 4:43 with the last goal coming with 56 seconds left for a 12-10 edge. Lauren Fischer (So., Pittsburgh, Pa.) scored late for the Irish for the 12-11 final. The Irish had trouble containing OSU’s Megan Mirick who scored six goals in the game. Notre Dame was led by Danielle Shearer (Jr., Hampstead, Md.) with four goals, while Fischer and Anne Riley (Marblehead, Mass.) each had three goals. Jen White (Jr., Annapolis, Md.) made nine saves in goal for the Irish while Erin Forquer had nine stops for the Buckeyes.
COMMON OPPONENTS: Notre Dame and Ohio State played five common opponents this season – Northwestern, Delaware, Virginia Tech, Vanderbilt and Ohio University. Notre Dame was 5-0 versus those teams while Ohio State was 3-2 in games versus the common opponents. Both the Irish and Buckeyes defeated Northwestern, Delaware and Ohio University. Notre Dame defeated Virginia Tech at home, 15-4, while Ohio State lost to the Hokies, 16-14, at Blacksburg, Va. The Irish defeated Vanderbilt, 10-9 in overtime at home, while the Buckeyes lost at Vanderbilt, 12-11.
THE COACHES: Notre Dame head coach Tracy Coyne is in her sixth season with the Irish and is the only coach the program has ever known. Coyne owns a 48-35 (.578) record at Notre Dame and is 162-61 (.726) in her 15-year coaching career. The Pittsburgh, Pa., native led Denison (1988) and Roanoke (1990, 1991, 1992, 1994, 1996) to the NCAA Division III tournament during stops at those schools. A 1983 graduate of Ohio University, Coyne has coached on the international level leading the Canadian women’s lacrosse national team to the medal round at the 2001 World Cup in England.
Ohio State head coach Sue Stimmel is in her seventh season at Ohio State and has a 54-45 (.545) record with the Buckeyes. Stimmel followed Coyne at Denison where she led the Big Red to a 76-18 record and five trips to the Division III NCAA tournament. In 13 seasons as a head coach, Stimmel has a 130-63 (.674) career mark.
BIG EAST HONORS: Danielle Shearer was named the BIG EAST Conference Midfielder of the Year for the 2002 season. A unamimous selection for both Midfielder of the Year and first team All-BIG EAST, Shearer led the Irish in scoring with career highs in goals (36), assists (19) and points on the year with 55. She was joined on the first team by teammates Natalie Loftus (Sr., Baltimore, Md.) and goalkeeper Jen White (Jr., Annapolis, Md.). Named to the second team were defensive standout Tina Fedarcyk (Sr., Millersville, Md.) and midfielder Alissa Moser (Sr., North Wales, Pa.).
RECORD SETTING SEASON: The 2002 women’s lacrosse season will go down as the finest season in the program’s short six-year history. Going into their first-ever NCAA tournament game, the Irish have set program-bests for wins (12), for BIG EAST wins (5) and for the highest ranking (7th) that the program has ever achieved. The Irish have also set records for lowest goals against (7.30), save percentage (.549) and ground balls (465). Notre Dame also won its first game at home versus a ranked team when the Irish defeated 7th-ranked Syracuse, 12-7, on April 3.
NCAA TOURNAMENT PAIRINGS: Here’s the opening round games for the NCAA women’s lacrosse championships. All games are being played on May 9.
1. Georgetown (14-1) vs. Lafayette (13-6)
Duke (9-7) vs. Vanderbilt (10-5)
4. Cornell (14-1) vs. Syracuse (10-5)
Loyola (Md.) (15-3) vs. Maryland (10-9)
2. Princeton (15-1) vs. LeMoyne (10-7)
Notre Dame (12-4) vs. Ohio State (11-4)
3. North Carolina (15-2) vs. UMBC (12-4)
Virginia (14-3) vs. Temple (14-4)
Quarterfinal games will be played on Sunday, May 12 at top seeds home sites. The winner of the Notre Dame-Ohio State game will play the winner of the Princeton-LeMoyne game.
BIG EAST DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Senior defender Kathryn Lam (Plainsboro, N.J.) was named the BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Week for the week ending May 5. Lam played a key role in Notre Dame’s late rally versus Vanderbilt that led to the 10-9 overtime win. The Irish trailed 9-6 with less than two minutes left . Lam forced a turnover that led to the goal that made it 9-8 with 1:08 left then controlled the ensuing draw that led to Shearer’s game-tying goal with 20 seconds left. She finished the game with four ground balls, three caused turnovers and a draw control.
WARRIOR/INSIDE LACROSSE PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Danielle Shearer has been selected as teh Warrior/Inside Lacrosse Player of the Week for the week ending May 5 for her heroics in last week’s dramatic overtime win against Vanderbilt. With the Irish trailing, 9-7, Shearer scored twice in the final 1:08 to send the game to overtime. She scored the game-tying goal with 20 seconds left in the game. The Irish pulled out the win in the extra stanza, 10-9.
THE BALL STOPS HERE: Notre Dame goalkeeper Jen White finished the season as the top goalkeeper in the BIG EAST with a 7.30 goals against overall and a 7.33 average in league games. The 7.30 mark is the fewest goals per game the Irish have surrendered in a season in the program’s history. White also set the Notre Dame mark for single-season save percentage as she stopped 54.9% of the shots she faced. White set a BIG EAST record when she limited Rutgers to just two goals in Notre Dame’s 9-2 win on April 28. For the season, the Irish all-America candidate was named the BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Week three times (March 17, April 1, April 28).
THE STRAW THAT STIRS THE DRINK: Senior midfielder Natalie Loftus turned in a career-year for the Irish in 2002. As the catalyst for the Irish offense, Loftus recorded career highs in assists (11) and points (35) while also scoring 24 goals. For the season, Loftus, a first team all-BIG EAST choice, finished second in scoring. She was sixth in ground balls (35) and tied for second with 17 draw controls. For her career, she is the fourth player in the program’s history to score over 100 points. Loftus goes into the Ohio State game with 73 goals and 31 assists for 104 points in her career.
STREAKING SHEARER: Danielle Shearer comes into the game with Ohio State having scored at least one point in all 16 games for the Irish this season. She has scored a goal in 15 of the 16 as she was stopped versus Yale (April 14). For the season, Shearer has 12 multiple-goal games including four with two goals, seven with three and one four-goal game. Shearer became the third Irish player to score over 100 points in her career this season. She has 92 goals and 39 assists for 131 points. Her 92 goals rank second to Lael O’Shaughnessy’s school record 122.
TOP FIVE SCORERS: The top five scorers in the programs history are:
1. Lael O’Shaughnessy (98-01): 122-68-190
2. Kerry Callahan (97-98): 83-63-146
3. Danielle Shearer (00-02): 92-39-131
4. Natalie Loftus (99-02): 73-31-104
5. Alissa Moser (99-02): 65-18-83
THE CORNERSTONE: Part of the reason for Notre Dame’s success in 2002 is its stingy defense. Ranked number one in the nation for two weeks this season, the three top Irish defenders have started every game of their Notre Dame careers. Kathryn Lam, Tina Fedarcyk (Sr., Millersville, Md.) and Maureen Henwood (Sr., Marlton, N.J.) have combined to start 182 games and rank 1-2-3 in career ground balls with a total of 478. The threesome have seen Notre Dame’s goals against average drop from 13.47 as freshmen to 7.30 this season.
THE SENIOR CLASS: Seven seniors have played key roles in building the Notre Dame women’s lacrosse program. Maureen Henwood, Kate Scarola (Windsor, Conn.), Natalie Loftus, Tina Fedarcyk, Maureen Whitaker (Doylestown, Pa.), Kathryn Lam and Alissa Moser committed to Notre Dame prior to the start of the program’s second season. During their four years, they have seen the Irish win 36 games while losing 25 and have the program going in the right direction.
ONE-GOAL LOSSES: The Irish were 3-4 this season in seven games versus nationally ranked teams. Three of the four losses came by one goal to nationally ranked teams with one in triple-overtime. The Irish lost at home to #10 Cornell, 10-9, dropped a 12-11 decision at #15 Ohio State and lost 10-9 in triple-overtime at home to Duke. Notre Dame’s fourth loss came by a 17-8 margin at second-ranked Georgetown. Notre Dame’s wins over ranked teams came versus #7 Syracuse, 12-7, versus #12 Yale, 11-8 and in the regular season finale, 10-9 in overtime versus Vanderbilt.
THE LONGEST GAME: Notre Dame’s heartbreaking 10-9 loss to 7th-ranked Duke in three overtimes goes down as the longest game in the history of the women’s lacrosse program. The total time for the game was 71:45 as Duke got the winning goal with 15 seconds left in the third overtime period. In that game the Irish trailed 8-6 and got goals from Maureen Henwood and Meredith Simon (So., Flemington, N.J.) with 1:40 left to send the game to overtime. Simon’s goal came with 19 seconds left in the game. The Irish have played three overtime games in their history and are 2-1 in those games.
VERSUS THE BEST: The Irish were 3-4 this season in games versus ranked teams. All-time, the Irish have a 5-19 record versus teams in the national top 20. The 2001 season marked the first time the Irish beat a ranked team as they beat #17 Delaware on March 31 in Nashville, Tenn. The Irish then won at #7 Yale on April 16, 2001 for their first win over a top 10 team.
BALANCED ATTACK: Notre Dame had six players score 10 or more goals this season. The Irish were led by Danielle Shearer (35) who was followed by Alissa Moser (27), Natalie Loftus (24), Meredith Simon (23), Lauren Fischer (17) and Kassen Delano (So., Alexandria, Va.) with 10.
NOTRE DAME IN NATIONAL STATS: As a team, the Irish are among the top teams in several categories in the NCAA statistics.
Team Defense – 4th, 7.43 goals per game
Team Offense – 23rd, 10.94 goals per game
Draw Controls – 24th, 10.97 per game
Scoring Margin – 11th, 3.50 goals per game.
Individually, goalkeeper Jen White is fourth in the nation with a 7.30 goals against average. Her .549 save percentage is 19th best.
IRISH LEADERS:
Points:
Danielle Shearer – 55
Natalie Loftus – 35
Alissa Moser – 33
Goals:
Danielle Shearer – 36
Alissa Moser – 27
Natalie Loftus – 24
Assists:
Danielle Shearer – 19
Natalie Loftus – 11
Eleanor Weille – 7
Ground Balls:
Kathryn Lam – 53
Tina Fedarcyk – 40
Maureen Henwood – 38
Caused Turnovers:
Tina Fedarcyk – 24
Maureen Henwood – 17
Kathryn Lam – 17
Jen White – 17
Draw Controls:
Alissa Moser – 31
Danielle Shearer – 19
Natalie Loftus – 17
Tina Fedarcyk – 17