April 20, 2007
Notre Dame, Ind. –
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• The Game: #6/#8 Notre Dame (11-4/3-1) vs. #18/#19 Rutgers (11-3/2-2)
• Date/Time/Site: Sat., Apr. 21, 2007 • 3:00 p.m. • Moose Krause Stadium • Notre Dame, Ind.
• Video Streaming: All remaining Notre Dame women’s lacrosse home games will be streamed live via Fighting Irish All-Access on the Notre Dame website at und.com. To view the game, the viewer will need to be using Internet Explorer 6 with Windows Media Player 9 or higher.
THE HOME FINALE: The Notre Dame women’s lacrosse team closes out the 2007 regular season on Senior Day – Saturday, April 21 – when the Irish play host to the Rutgers Scarlet Knights. Game time at Moose Krause Stadium is set for 3:00 p.m. Notre Dame will honor its graduating senior class in ceremonies prior to the game. The Irish bring an 11-4 overall record and a 3-1 BIG EAST mark into the game. Rutgers is 11-3 on the year and 2-2 in BIG EAST play. Both teams have qualified for the first-ever BIG EAST Tournament on April 27-29 at Syracuse, N.Y. Seedings are yet to be determined. The Irish entered the week ranked sixth in the IWLCA poll and eighth in the Inside Lacrosse.com poll before Wednesday’s 13-9 loss at #14 Vanderbilt. Rutgers is ranked 18th in the IWLCA poll and 19th by Inside Lacrosse.com. The Scarlet Knights last played on April 13 when they dropped a 21-12 decision to Syracuse, snapping a five-game winning streak. Rutgers will close the regular season on April 23 when the Knights travel to Evanston, Ill., to face top-ranked Northwestern.
BIG EAST TOURNAMENT: The BIG EAST will host its first-ever postseason tournament this year, April 27-29, at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse, N.Y. Heading into this week’s games, Notre Dame, Syracuse, Georgetown and Rutgers have clinched all four tournament spots. The Irish, Orange and Hoyas are tied for first with a 3-1 record while Rutgers is fourth with a 2-2 mark. Here are the remaining BIG EAST games that will determine the final standings for the tournament: Today – Saturday, April 21 – Rutgers at Notre Dame; Loyola at Syracuse; Sunday, April 22 – Connecticut at Georgetown. Notre Dame has defeated Georgetown but lost to Syracuse while Syracuse owns a win against the Irish and a loss to the Hoyas. If all three teams will, the final standings will go to tiebreakers. BIG EAST tiebreaking procedures:
Lena Zentgraf has had a career season in her final year for the Irish. She is third in scoring with career highs in goals (17), assists (19) and points (36).
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Tie-Breaking Policies The following policies are set up to break ties at the end of the regular season for selection/seeding purposes. Follow the appropriate steps in order. Once one or more teams gain an advantage in the case of a multiple-team tie, revert to the beginning of the tie-breaking policies with the remaining teams. If the ties cannot be broken, the Commissioner will conduct a coin flip.
1. Regular season head-to-head results. If three or more teams are tied, they are viewed as a “miniconference” when comparing head-to-head results. The team or teams with the best combined record versus the other teams in the mini-conference gain the advantage. 2. Each team’s record versus the team occupying the highest position in the standings, continuing down through the standings until one team gains an advantage. NOTE: When arriving at another pair of tied teams while comparing records, use each team’s record against the tied teams as a group rather than the performance against the individual tied teams. 3. Each team’s Conference seasonal goal differential (maximum of seven goals per game). 4. Each team’s Conference seasonal goals for (maximum of seven goals per game). 5. Each team’s Conference seasonal goals against (maximum of seven goals per game).
Senior Kristin Hopson has been a three-year standout on the Notre Dame defense. She has 59 ground balls, 13 draw controls and 31 caused turnovers in 53 career games.
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LIVE VIDEO STREAMING: Notre Dame’s remaining home game vs. Rutgers will be streamed live on Notre Dame’s website, und.com. To watch the game on your computer, go to Fighting Irish All-Access on und.com. To view the game, the viewer will need to be using Internet Explorer 6 with Windows Media Player 9 or higher while watching on an IBM computer.
IRISH VERSUS SCARLET KNIGHTS: Notre Dame and Rutgers have met seven times in the all-time series with the Irish holding a 5-2 advantage. The Irish are 3-0 in games played at home and 2-2 in games played at Rutgers. Last season, the teams played on April 23 in Piscataway, N.J., with the Irish taking a 13-8 decision. The last time the teams played as Notre Dame was April 3, 2005 with the Irish winning a 12-9 contest.
THANKS SENIORS: Five Notre Dame women’s lacrosse players will play their final regular-season game for the Irish against Rutgers. The group includes: defenders Meaghan Fitzpatrick (Farmingdale, N.Y.) and Kristin Hopson (Rosemont, Pa.), midfielders Kaki Orr (Darien, Conn.) and Lena Zentgraf (Charlottesville, Va.) and attack player Meghan Murphy (Centennial, Colo.). This class is the second most successful (to date) at Notre Dame as they own a 41-25 all-time record (2004 team was 43-22). Thanks to Meaghan, Kristin, Kaki, Lena and Meghan for four great years.
Senior Kaki Orr has set the single-season mark for draw controls with 45 this season. She is second on the all-time list with 104 for her career.
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HEAD COACH Tracy Coyne: Tracy Coyne is in her 11th season at Notre Dame and 20th year in collegiate lacrosse. Coyne brings a 212-94 (.693) career record into the game against Rutgers and is now 98-68 (.590) with the Irish. The 1983 graduate of Ohio University recorded her 200th career win last season in the first round of the NCAA tournament with a 16-8 victory against Cornell. She has guided Notre Dame to three NCAA tournament appearances (2002, 2004, 2006), including last year’s first-ever trip to the NCAA finals. In her first 19 years of coaching, Coyne was 23-5 in two seasons at Denison (1988-89), 91-21 in seven years at Roanoke (1990-96) and 87-64 in 10 seasons 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 5-2 in her career against Rutgers.
NO CAKE FOR YOU: Notre Dame head coach Tracy Coyne needs just two more wins to reach the 100-mark in her career at Notre Dame. She reached the 200-win mark for her career on May 14, 2006 in the NCAA Tournament versus Cornell.
VANDY RECAP: The Irish saw their two- game win streak come to an end on Wednesday afternoon when they dropped a 13-9 decision at Vanderbilt on April 18. Notre Dame never led in this game, falling behind 4-1 in the first half before tying the game five times. Each time the Irish would tie the game, the Commodores would retake the lead. Sophomore Jillian Byers (Northport, N.Y.) led the attack with three goals and an assist. Fellow sophomore Jane Stoeckert (Mendham, N.J.) added three goals and Lena Zentgraf (Sr., Charlottesville, Va.) had a goal and two assists for her three-point day. Caitlin McKinney (Jr., Lafayette Hill, Pa.) added a goal and an assist and Heather Ferguson (Jr., Newtown Square, Pa.) scored once in the loss. The Irish trailed 9-7 in the second half and battled back to make it 9-9 with less than 15 minutes left but that was as close as they would get as Vanderbilt scored the final four goals in the 13-9 victory. Notre Dame was out shot 34-16 in the game. Erin Goodman (So., Cortlandt Manor, N.Y.) made 12 saves in the game, including eight in the first half as she kept the Irish in the game.
Senior defender Meaghan Fitzpatrick has played in 62 career games going into Saturday’s game with Rutgers. She has 96 ground balls, 32 draw controls and 50 caused turnovers in four seasons at Notre Dame.
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ENDING THE HOYA STREAK: Junior Caitlin McKinney (Lafayette Hill, Pa.) had a goal and a career-high four assists and Jillian Byers scored three times to help lead Notre Dame to a 13-8 win over Georgetown on Sat., April 14 at Moose Krause Stadium. The Notre Dame win snapped Georgetown’s 37-game BIG EAST winning streak and was the first loss the Hoyas have ever had in conference play. Nine Irish players got on the scoresheet in the game. Joining McKinney and Byers were Kaki Orr (Sr., Darien, Conn.) and Jane Stoeckert (So., Mendham, N.J.) with two goals each while Meghan Murphy (Sr., Centennial, Colo.), Lena Zentgraf (Sr., Charlottesville, Va.), Mary Carpenter (Jr., Rochester, N.Y.), Heather Ferguson (Jr., Newtown Square, Pa.) and Alicia Billings (So., Potomac, Md.) scored once in the win. Goalkeeper Erin Goodman (So., Cortlandt Park, N.Y.) made five saves in the game. Notre Dame led 6-4 at halftime and kept the two-goal lead at 8-6 with just under 17 minutes left. From there, Notre Dame scored three straight goals to put the game away a 11-6 with just over eight minutes left on the way to the 13-8 final score.
ON A ROLL: The Irish go into the final weekend of the regular season having won nine of their last 12 games on the way to the 11-4 record. They are now 26-8 (.765) over the last two seasons. THE STREAK: With a goal and an assist in the Vanderbilt game, Caitlin McKinney has now scored in 37-consecutive games to set a new Notre Dame record. Her 37-game streak started on April 24, 2005 and since that game she has scored 87 goals with 44 assists for 131 points.McKinney breaks the streak of 36 games that was held by Danielle Shearer `03 and was set between April 25, 2001 to May 1, 2003. During her streak Shearer had 85 goals, 51 assists and 136 points. Other current scoring streaks for the Irish include:
Jillian Byers - 15 games (50-8-58)Lena Zentgraf - 15 games (17-19-36)Jane Stoeckert - 13 games (20-13-33)Heather Ferguson - 5 games (6-2-8)
50/50 CLUB: With three goals in the loss to Vanderbilt, Jillian Byers now has 50 on the season, making her just the first player in Notre Dame history to score 50 or more goals in a season twice. She scored 54 in her rookie season in 2006. Notre Dame’s other 50-goal scorers include: Crysti Foote (74) in 2006 and Lael O’Shaughnessy (50) in 1999).
QUICKEST TO 100: With three goals against Georgetown (April 14), sophomore Jillian Byers went over the 100-goal mark in her career faster than any other player in Notre Dame history. It took Byers just 33 games to score 100 goals. Her career totals after 34 games now stand at 104 goals and 32 assists for 136 career points. Earlier this season she reached the 100-point plateau faster than any Notre Dame player when she did it in 24 games. She is currently sixth all-time in goals, eighth in assists and seventh in points.
RECORD WATCH: Senior Kaki Orr picked up one draw control in the game at Vanderbilt to give her 45 for the season to set Notre Dame’s single-season record for winning the draw. She passes the mark of 44 set last season by Crysti Foote `06. Orr also moves into second on the all-time list with 104 career draw controls. She trails all-time leader and current assistant coach, Alissa Moser `02, who had 126 draw controls in her Irish career.
DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Senior defender Meaghan Fitzpatrick (Farmingdale, N.Y.) was named the BIG EAST defensive player of the week for her play in Notre Dame’s win over Georgetown. Fitzpatrick had the duty of stopping Hoya All-American Coco Stanwick and held her to one goal and one assist in the contest. In the game, Fitzpatrick had five ground balls and two caused turnovers in the victory.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK HONORS: Caitlin McKinney was honored this week by WomensLax.com as its player of the week for her play in the win over Georgetown. McKinney scored once and had a career-high four assists for five points versus the Hoyas. She now leads Notre Dame in scoring with 36 goals and 20 assists for 56 points.
ONE MORE HONOR: Notre Dame head coach Tracy Coyne was named U.S. Lacrosse women’s coach of the week for the week ending April 15. Coyne guided her team to a 13-8 win over Georgetown, snapping the Hoyas 37-game BIG EAST unbeaten streak.
OUCH: The 20 goals scored by Duke against the Irish on April 5, marked just the sixth time in the program’s history that Notre Dame has given up 20 or more goals in a game. The most goals ever surrendered was 21, twice in 1997 (vs. Davidson and St. Joseph’s) and once last year (vs. Northwestern). The largest margin of defeat for Notre Dame is 14 goals and that came in a 19-5 loss to Duke on March 29, 1998.
DOUBLE-DIGIT WINS: With 11 wins on the season, Notre Dame has back-to-back double-digit win seasons for the second time in the program’s history and the first time since winning 10 in 2001 and 13 in 2002. Last season, the Irish won 15 to go with their 11 this year.
HOME SWEET HOME: Notre Dame’s win over Georgetown improved the Irish to 6-2 this season at home. They are 3-2 on the year at the Loftus Sports Center and 3-0 in games played at Moose Krause Stadium. In 2006, the Irish were 9-0 at home and are now 15-2 between the Loftus Center and Moose Krause Stadium over the last two years.
ACADEMIC HONORS: Senior Meaghan Fitzpatrick was recently honored for her work away from the playing field. A design major, Fitzpatrick has received the William and Connie Grief Art Award, the Mabel L. Mountain Art Award for Excellence in Studio Art and the Efroymson Fund Emerging Undergraduate Artist Award for art and design work in her major.
TEWAARATON WATCH LIST: Sophomore Jillian Byers and junior Caitlin McKinney have been named to the 2007 Tewaaraton “Watch List.” They are among 34 Division I players, selected by a panel of coaches from around the country, eligible for women’s collegiate lacrosse’s top player award. The current duo join Crysti Foote `06, Meredith Simon `04 and Danielle Shearer `03 as Irish players previously named to the “Watch List.” Shearer was the first player named to the list, Simon was the first selected as a nominee for the award and Foote was the first to be named a finalist.
BALANCED ATTACK: Notre Dame goes into the Rutgers game with five players who have 30 or more points on the season. A year ago, in 19 games, while setting a variety of scoring records, the Irish had just four players with 30 or more points – Crysti Foote (114), Jillian Byers (78), Caitlin McKinney (64) and Heather Ferguson (36). This season, the five are – McKinney (58), Byers (58), Lena Zentgraf (36) Meghan Murphy (34), and Jane Stoeckert (33). The Irish also have three players with 20 or more goals. That includes Byers (50), McKinney (37) and Stoeckert (20).
STICK WITH STOECKERT: Sophomore midfielder Jane Stoeckert has become a major contributor to Notre Dame’s offense in her second season in the Irish midfield. Her three goals against Vanderbilt extended her personal-scoring streak to 13 games. She now has 11 games this season with two or more points and has five games with two or more goals. Stoeckert led Notre Dame with a career-best six-point game (3g, 3a) in the 16-11 win over California on April 7. She also has set career highs in goals (20), assists (13) and points (30) for the season and is fifth in team scoring.. As a freshman, Stoeckert had 11 goals and nine assists for 20 points in 19 games.
LEAN ON LENA: Senior midfielder Lena Zentgraf has already put together a career year for the Irish in her final season. Zentgraf goes into the Rutgers game with career highs in goals (17), assists (19) and points (36) to rank third in team scoring. Zentgraf’s previous best season came in 2005 when she had 11 goals and eight assists for 19 points. She also leads Notre Dame with 24 caused turnovers and is second with 31 ground balls and 29 draw controls.
VERSUS THE BEST: The Irish will their 11th ranked team of the season on Saturday when they play #18/#19 Rutgers. The Irish are currently 6-4 in games versus top 20 teams. They own wins over #9 Georgetown, #12 James Madison, #18 Stanford, #11 Cornell, #18 Yale and #19 Connecticut (rankings are IWLCA rankings when team faced the Irish.). The losses have come to #1 Northwestern, #11 Syracuse, #4 Duke and #14 Van.
CAREER YEAR: Senior Meghan Murphy has become an offensive force for the Irish over the last 11 games as she has scored 28 points (15g, 13a), including a career-high five-point game (3g, 2a) versus Duquesne and three, four-point games – 2 goals, 2 assists versus California and (1g, 3a) at Canisius and versus Ohio State. Murphy is currently fourth on the team with career highs in goals (18), assists (16) and points (33), breaking her previous career bests of 14-9-23 set in 2006.
CHART CLIMBER: With a goal and an assist against Vanderbilt, junior Caitlin McKinney now has 107 goals to rank fifth on the all-time goal list (Meredith Simon is fourth with 109). Her 21 assists this season give her 55 for her career and rank her fifth in that category (Kerry Callahan is fourth with 63). She now has 162 career points to move into fourth on the all-time list.
MAKING THE STOPS: Sophomore goaltender Erin Goodman recorded 12 saves in the loss at Vanderbilt, including eight in the first half when the Commodores threatened to break the game open. Her her overall record is now 11-4 with a 10.36 goals-against average and a .451 save percentage. She needs one more win to equal the Irish mark for wins by a goalkeeper in her first sesaon as a starter as she trails Carol Dixon `05 who had 12 in her first season as a starter in 2004. On March 25 versus Loyola, she gave up one goal with 14 saves in an 11-1 win over Loyola. The one goal that she surrendered against gives Goodman the Notre Dame and BIG EAST record for fewest goals allowed in a game. The previous Irish mark of two goals against had occured four times in the program’s history. The record in BIG EAST play came on April 28, 2002, in a 9-2 win at Rutgers with Irish All-American Jen White `03, getting the win.
CONTROLLING THE DRAW: The Irish currently lead the BIG EAST in draw controls with 204 in their first 15 games for an average of 13.60 per game. Leading the team is senior Kaki Orr who has 45 for the year and is second in the conference with 3.00 per game. She is followed by Lena Zentgraf who has 29 on the year or 1.93 per game. Notre Dame tied a school record by winning 20 draws in the 13-9 win at Cornell on March 4. The 20 draws did set a school mark for draw controls in an away game. The previous mark of 20 was set versus Virginia Tech on March 26, 2004. The previous road mark was 19 and was done three times. As a team, the Irish have won 204 draw controls while losing 175 for a 53.8% success rate in the first 15 games of the season.