Feb. 26, 2007
Notre Dame, Ind. – Notre Dame women’s lacrosse player Caitlin McKinney (Jr., Lafayette Hill, Pa.) has been selected as the BIG EAST conference’s offensive player of the week for the week ending February 25. The junior attack standout helped lead the Irish to a pair of overtime wins against James Madison and Stanford.
In the two games, McKinney, a preseason all-BIG EAST and All-American candidate, combined for eight goals and one assist for nine points. She opened the season with two goals in the 10-9 sudden-death win at James Madison on Feb. 18 and then had a career-best six-goal and seven-point game in the 12-11 double-overtime win versus Stanford on Feb. 24.
Versus James Madison, McKinney only scored twice, but both goals were big goals in Notre Dame’s sudden-death win. She scored her first goal of the game with just 19 seconds left to tie the contest at 7-7 and send the game to overtime. McKinney’s second goal came with the Irish trailing 9-8 in the second overtime as she again tied the game 9-9, scoring with just nine seconds left on the clock. Sophomore Jillian Byers (Northport, N.Y.) then got the game winner in the sudden-death preiod in the 10-9 win.
On Feb. 24, in the home opener at the Loftus Center, McKinney had the best game of her career, scoring six times while adding an assist for nine points. Her first four goals came in the first half as the two teams battled to an 8-8 tie. Her fifth goal came with 7:10 left in the game and it cut the Stanford lead to 11-10. The junior attack standout then assisted on Lena Zentgraf’s (Sr., Charlottesville, Va.) game-tying goal with 4:02 left in the game.
After a scoreless first overtime, McKinney then got the game winner with seven seconds left in the second overtime to give the Irish the win.
McKinney is tied for the team lead in scoring with nine points after two games. The youngest player in Irish history to score 100 points (33) games, she now has 78 goals and 35 assists for 113 points in 36 career games.
The fifth-ranked Irish will return to action this week with a pair of games against ranked teams. On Thursday, March 1, Notre Dame will play host to the Northwestern Wildcats in a 7:00 p.m. game at the Loftus Sports Center. The defending national champs, Northwestern is 1-1 on the season and ranked No. 1 in the IWCLA coaches’ poll and third in the Inside Lacrosse poll. On Sunday, March 4, the Irish travel to 11th-ranked Cornell for a 1:00 p.m. meeting with the Big Red.