April 10, 2010
Notre Dame, Ind. –
Complete Release in PDF Format 
2010 Notre Dame Women’s Lacrosse
– The Game: #15/#16 Notre Dame (7-4/3-1) vs. #7/#9 Syracuse (7-3/2-0)
– Date/Time/Site: Sun., April 11, 2010 – 1:00 p.m. – Arlotta Stadium – Notre Dame, Ind.
– Internet: Fans can follow the Notre Dame-Syracuse game via live video streaming and Game Tracker on Sunday by going to the Notre Dame website at und.com. There is no charge for the live video at und.com.
IRISH AND ORANGE BATTLE AT ARLOTTA STADIUM: The Notre Dame women’s lacrosse team closes out the weekend with an important BIG EAST battle versus seventh-ranked Syracuse on Sunday, April 11. The game will be played at Arlotta Stadium at 1:00 p.m. The Irish bring a two-game winning streak into the contest after wins this week at Loyola (11-10) and on Friday afternoon at home against Villanova (16-0). Notre Dame is 7-4 overall and 3-1 in the BIG EAST, good for a third-place tie in the conference with Loyola. The Orange make their first-ever appearance at Arlotta Stadium and own a three-game winning streak of their own after defeating Connecticut on Friday, 11-2. Syracuse is 7-3 for the year and 2-0 in BIG EAST play. The Orange own wins over Rutgers, Boston University and UConn in their winning streak.
THE RANKINGS: Syracuse and Notre Dame enter the week ranked in both the IWLCA coaches’ poll and the Inside Lacrosse poll. The Orange are ranked seventh in the IWLCA poll and ninth in the Inside Lacrosse media poll. The Irish are ranked 15th in the coaches’ poll and 16th by Inside Lacrosse.
IRISH VERSUS THE ORANGE: Notre Dame and Syracuse have met 13 times in the all-time series with the Orange holding a 9-4 advantage in the games played to date. At Notre Dame, the Irish are 3-2 versus Syracuse. At Syracuse, the Irish are 0-6 and at neutral sites the teams are 1-1. Last season the teams met twice. In the regular season at the Carrier Dome, the Orange downed the Irish, 14-13. The teams then met in the semifinals of the BIG EAST Tournament where Notre Dame took a 16-10 win on the way to its first-ever BIG EAST title.
A LOOK AT SYRACUSE: The Orange make their first appearance at Arlotta Stadium on Sunday and bring a high-powered attack into the game. They average 15.00 goals per contest while giving up just 9.60. Junior attack Tee Ladouceur leads Syracuse in scoring with 26 goals and 28 assists for 54 points in 10 games. She is followed by senior midfielder Christina Dove who is one point behind with 40 goals and 13 assists for 53 points. Freshman attack Michelle Tumolo is third with 18 goals and 23 assists for 41 points. Junior goalkeeper Liz Hogan is 7-3 for the year with a 9.36 goals-against average and a .456 save percentage.
VILLANOVA RECAP: Notre Dame returned home after a three-game road trip to face Villanova at Arlotta Stadium on Friday, April 9. The game was the first time that the Wildcats had ever played at Notre Dame and was just the second meeting in the all-time series. The visit will be one that Villanova would soon forget as the Irish handed the Wildcats a 16-0 loss for the first shutout ever for Notre Dame and the first in the history of BIG EAST conference play since the league started in 2001. Fourteen different players got on the score sheet for the Irish as they scored five times in the first 3:12 on the way to a 10-0 lead at halftime. Ansley Stewart led the way with three goals while Kailene Abt (2g, 1a), Gina Scioscia (1g, 2a) and Maggie Tamasitis (1g, 2a) each had three points. Junior Shaylyn Blaney and sophomore Jordy Shoemaker joined Abt with two goals each. Scioscia, Tamasitis, Betsy Mastropieri, Kelly Driscoll, Kaitlin Keena, Flannery Nangle and Jaimie Morrison scored one goal each. Freshman goalkeeper Ellie Hilling had eight saves in the game to pick up her seventh win of the season as the Irish out shot Villanova, 29-16. In all, 26 of the 27 players on the Irish roster saw playing time with only freshman Michelle Tremblay (injured) not seeing action.
THE IRISH ALL-TIME: In this the 14th season of the Notre Dame women’s lacrosse program, Notre Dame brings a 133-86 all-time record (.607) into Sunday’s game versus Syracuse. That record includes a 54-48 road record (.529). At home, the Irish are 65-31 (.677) with a 14-7 all-time ledger on neutral fields.
HEAD COACH Tracy Coyne: Tracy Coyne is in her 14th season at Notre Dame and her 23rd year in collegiate lacrosse. Coyne brings a 247-112 (.688) career record into this week’s games. As the only head coach in the Notre Dame program’s history, Coyne is 133-86 (.607) and has guided the Irish to five NCAA tournaments (2002, 2004, 2006, 2008 and 2009) where her teams have advanced to the Final Four once (2006) and the quarterfinals twice (2002, 2009). The Irish have been in all three BIG EAST Tournaments to date, beginning in 2007 and they recorded their first BIG EAST title last season with wins over Syracuse (16-10) and Georgetown (12-10). A 1983 Ohio University graduate, Coyne was 23-5 in two seasons at Denison (1988-89), 91-21 in seven years at Roanoke (1990-96) and 133-86 in this, her 14th season at Notre Dame. 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. Coyne also has coached on the international level as the head coach for the Canadian women’s lacrosse national team from 1999-2005. In June of 2005, she led Team Canada to a fourth-place finish at the 2005 World Cup, her second, fourth-place finish (2001) as Canada’s field boss. Coyne is 4-9 in her coaching career against Syracuse.
SHUTOUT INFO: Notre Dame’s 16-0 shutout of Villanova was the first in the program’s 14-year history. The shutout was the second this season at the Division I level as Penn blanked St. Joseph’s, 14-0, on March 17, 2010. Prior to getting the shutout versus Villanova, Notre Dame owned the BIG EAST record for fewest goals in a game as the Irish did it twice, giving up two goals in a 9-2 win over Rutgers on April 28, 2002 and then reduced the mark to one goal in an 11-1 defeat of Loyola on March 25, 2007.
BENCH STRENGTH: Of the 16 goals scored by Notre Dame in the win over Villanova, nine of them were scored by Irish players who came off the bench. Ansley Stewart led the way with three goals. Jordy Shoemaker scored twice and Flannery Nangle, Kelly Driscoll, Jaimie Morrison and Betsy Mastropieri each had one goal. Amy Bernier and Jenny Granger each had assists in the game.
TEN-GOAL OUTBURST: Notre Dame’s 10 goals in the first half marked the second time this season that the Irish have scored 10 or more goals in a half. The first time came Feb. 27 when the Irish scored 11 versus Duquesne in a 15-10 Notre Dame win.
FIRST TIMERS: Five different Notre Dame players made their first career appearances and for two of them – sophomores Amy Bernier and Janel Carey – it was a long time coming. Both players missed all of 2009 due to season-ending injuries. Bernier, a midfielder, recorded her first career point in the game with an assist. Joining them on the scoresheet were freshmen Jaimie Morrison, McKenzie Brown and Francie Crowell who each saw their first career action.
MARGIN OF VICTORY: The last time that Notre Dame won a game by a 16-goal margin came on March 22, 2009 when the Irish defeated California, 20-4. Notre Dame’s largest margin of victory in the 14-year history of the program is 19 goals, a mark that was reached on March 10, 2000 when the Irish defeated Ohio, 22-3.
LOYOLA REVIEW: Notre Dame closed out its three-game road sojourn at Loyola on April 5 and played the same kind of game as they did against Georgetown – fell behind early, rallied to tie and then go ahead in the second half – this time though, the Irish provided the heroics as junior Ansley Stewart scored with six seconds left in an 11-10 win. Notre Dame fell behind 6-2 with eight minutes left in the opening half. From there, the Irish ran off eight of the next 10 goals to take a 10-8 lead only to see Loyola get two goals late in the second half to tie the game at 10-10 with 4:38 left in the game. Instead of folding the Irish held off the Greyhounds and Stewart provided the offense for the important road win. Senior Gina Scioscia had her second consecutive five-point game (2g, 3a) to lead the Irish. Sophomore Maggie Tamasitis had three goals and an assist while Shaylyn Blaney added three goals, all in the second half comeback, of her own. Megan Sullivan, Betsy Mastropieri joined Stewart with single goals. Kailene Abt set up three first-half goals in the game. Grace Gavin led Loyola with five points (3g, 2a) while Abby Rehfuss added three and Cara Filippelli chipped in two. Ellie Hilling had four saves in the Notre Dame goal with the last one, a game saver with 1:49 left in the contest.
NAIL BITERS: No one ever said it would be easy. Just ask the Irish. In seven of their first 11 games this season, the Irish have gone to overtime in two of them and had five others decided by one or two goals. Notre Dame is 2-0 in overtime, 3-1 in games decided by one goal and 5-2 in games decided by two goals or less.
DEFENSIVE DYNAMO: Junior defensive midfielder Jackie Doherty is among the leaders in the BIG EAST in ground balls (37, 3.36 per game) and caused turnovers (26, 2.36 per game). She is first in ground balls and second in the conference in caused turnovers. Nationally, Doherty is ninth in ground balls and eighth in caused turnovers.
THE PLAYMAKER: Sophomore attack standout Maggie Tamasitis is Notre Dame’s top scorer as she leads the team with 12 goals and 19 assists for 31 points. As a freshman, the playmaker had 15 goals and 20 assists for 35 points. In just 32 career games, Tamasitis already has 39 career assists to rank ninth on Notre Dame’s all-time assist list.
STREAKY IRISH: Seven different Notre Dame players bring scoring streaks into the game with Syracuse. The list includes:
Gina Scioscia - 30 games (68g, 50a, 118 pts)Maggie Tamasitis - 11 games (12g, 19a, 31 pts)Betsy Mastropieri - 4 games (5g, 0a, 5 pts)Kailene Abt - 3 games (6g, 5a, 11 pts)Megan Sullivan - 3 games (3g, 1a, 4 pts)Ansley Stewart - 3 games (4g, 1a, 5 pts)Shaylny Blaney - 2 games (5g, 0a, 5 pts)
KEY CONTRIBUTOR: Sophomore Megan Sullivan has become a key contributor to the Irish offense this season. She already has career highs in goals (11), assists (3) and points (14). In the 11-9 win over Louisville on March 27, Sullivan had a career-high four goals versus the Cardinals.
CAREER LISTS: Senior Gina Scioscia has carried the hot hand for Notre Dame over the last four games. She scored a pair of goals in the loss at Northwestern (March 30) before turning in back-to-back five-point games (2g, 3a) versus Georgetown and Loyola. On Friday, she had a goal and two assists in the 16-0 win over Villanova. For her career, Scioscia now has 96 career goals with 92 assists for 188 career points. Her 92 assists rank her fifth among active NCAA players and her 188 points are 18th among active players. For the Irish all-time, Scioscia is eighth in goals, first in assists and sixth in points.
CLUTCH SCORING: Ansley Stewart’s game-winning goal versus Loyola on April 5 was her second of the season and the second of her career. She leads the Irish in that category this season.
ROAD WARRIORS: Through the first 11 games of the 2010 season, Notre Dame is 4-2 on the road. A year ago, the Irish were 6-3 away from home to equal the program’s all-time best road mark set in 2008. Over the last two-plus seasons, Notre Dame is 16-8 (.667) away from home.
GOT OUR NUMBER: Notre Dame’s 15-5 loss to Northwestern dropped the Irish to 2-9 all-time against the Wildcats. After winning the first two games of the all-time series, Notre Dame has now lost nine straight to Northwestern. The last time that the Irish defeated the Wildcats was April 26, 2003, a 13-9 win at Notre Dame. <>AN ARLOTTA FIRST: Notre Dame’s 11-9 win over Louisville (March 27) marked the first Irish win at their new Arlotta Stadium. With the win over Villanova, they are now 2-2 in the new stadium after opening with losses (12-8) to Dartmouth and (10-9) to Vanderbilt. The opening game of the season was a 15-10 win over Duquesne in a game played at the Loftus Sports Center.
HITTING THE CENTURY MARK: Junior midfielder Shaylyn Blaney is the seventh player in the program’s history to score over 100 goals in her career. Blaney leads the Irish with 22 goals and is third in scoring with 23 points. Her two goals at Boston University on March 20 gave her 100 for her career. She is now tied for sixth with Irish assistant coach Meredith Simon `04 with 109 career goals. Blaney is now ninth with 122 career points for the Irish. The Stony Brook, N.Y., native has now scored 20 or more goals in each of her three seasons at Notre Dame.
ABT TO SCORE: Junior midfielder Kailene Abt has picked up 11 points in her last three games (6g, 5a) for the Irish. Versus Georgetown, she had four goals and one assist and then followed that with three assists in the win over Loyola. She added two goals, including the game winner, and an assist in the win over Villanova. Abt is second on the team in scoring with 20 goals and 10 assists for 30 points. Her 10 assists are a career high for Abt.