March 20, 2010
Boston, Mass. – The Notre Dame women’s lacrosse team is starting to get the hang of playing in overtime. For the second time on their West coast to East coast road trip, the Irish rallied in regulation to tie the game and then won it in overtime. Saturday afternoon’s game at Boston University went to sudden death as the Irish prevailed, 7-6, in a hard-fought game at BU’s Nickerson Field.
Senior attack standout Gina Scioscia scored the game winner with 38 seconds left in the second six-minute overtime as she beat Terriers’ goalkeeper Rachel Klein with a free-position shot just second after she was hammered by BU’s Kate Cipoletti, earning the BU defender her second yellow card of the game.
The game proved to be the second longest in Notre Dame history as it went a total of 71:22. The longest game was played on April 13, 2003 when the Irish lost to Stanford in a game that lasted 72 minutes.
The overtime game came one week after the Irish rallied from a three-goal deficit to beat California, 14-12, in extra time at Berkeley, Calif.
Shaylyn Blaney and Maggie Tamasitis each scored twice in the win over the Terriers with Kailene Abt, Jenny Granger and Scioscia scored for the Irish.
Traci Landy led Boston University with a pair of goals while Annie Stookesbury, Danielle Etrasco, Hannah Frey and Catie Tiltin had single goals for the Terriers.
The win improved the 15th-ranked Irish to 4-1 on the year while 11th-ranked Boston University goes to 4-3 overall. Notre Dame is 2-0 in overtime this season. The game was the first ever between the Irish and Boston University in the two program’s history. Notre Dame played at Nickerson Field in 2006 when the Irish faced Dartmouth in the 2006 NCAA semifinals.
“This was a really big win for us today,” said Notre Dame head coach Tracy Coyne.
“BU is a good team and we kept coming back against them. It was a tough, defensive battle and I thought our defense and Ellie Hilling in goal had strong games. This was one of those games where different people stepped up and did little things well. We forced some big turnovers late in the game and in overtime and came up with some key ground balls when we needed them.”
Notre Dame is a team known for its offensive attack, but on Saturday, it was the defense that rose to the occasion. Hilling, a freshman, making just her fifth career start had eight saves in the game but none bigger than the point-blank stop she made on Rachel Collins with 1:44 left in sudden death.
After 30 minutes, the Irish led by a 2-1 margin as Tamasitis made it 1-0 on a free-position shot at 23:31. Stookesberry tied the game at 1-1 with 18:09 left in the first and Granger got an unassisted tally at 15:58 for all the offense in the half. The Irish out shot BU, 11-6, in the first half with Hilling making four saves to five for Klein in the Terriers’ cage.
Boston University opened the second half with four consecutive goals in the first 14 minutes of the half to open a three-goal advantage at 5-2. Tilton (27:52), Frey (27:06), Landy with her first (18:01) and Etrasco (15:50) did the damage. Coyne called a key timeout after Etrasco’s goal that seemed to get her team back on track.
“We took the timeout after BU made it 5-2,” said Coyne.
“We weren’t shooting well, we were forcing things. It seemed to settle them down.”
The Irish cut the lead to 5-3 with 10:03 when Blaney picked up her first of the game on a free-position shot. It would take just 21 seconds to cut the lead to one at 5-4 when Abt beat Klein with 9:42 left in second half.
The score remained that way until their was just 3:57 left in regulation when McKinley Curro set up Landy’s second goal of the game to make it a two-goal advantage and a 6-4 lead.
Abt set up Blaney with 2:42 left to cut the lead to one and just 27 seconds later Tamasitis put the finishing touches on a nifty two-on-one as Kaitlin Keena set her up with a wide-open net and the game was tied 6-6.
In the first six-minute overtime, the Irish took the only shot as the defenses tightened and the game remained tied. In sudden death each team would get one chance with Scioscia taking advantage of her chance on the free-position with 38 seconds left to give the Irish their second overtime win in a row.
Notre Dame finished with 25 shots in the game while Boston University had 17. Klein made 11 saves in the game for the Terriers.
The Irish now return home for a pair of games at Arlotta Stadium. On Wed., March 24, they face 14th-ranked Vanderbilt in a 2:30 p.m. game. On Sat., March 27 Notre Dame opens BIG EAST play with a home game against Louisville at 3:00 p.m.
GAME SUMMARY 1 2 OT 2OT - F#15 Notre Dame (4-1) 2 4 0 1 - 7#11 Boston University (4-3) 1 5 0 0 - 6
ScoringFirst Half:Time Team Score Goal Assist23:31 ND 1-0 Maggie Tamasitis Free-position shot18:09 BU 1-1 Annie Stookesberry Rachel Collins15:58 ND 2-1 Jenny Granger
Second HalfTime Team Score Goal Assist27:52 BU 2-2 Catie Tilton27:06 BU 2-3 Hannah Frey Xan Weitzel18:01 BU 2-4 Traci Landy McKinley Curro15:50 BU 2-5 Danielle Etrasco10:03 ND 3-5 Shaylyn Blaney Free-position goal 9:42 ND 4-5 Kailene Abt 3:57 BU 4-6 Traci Landy McKinley Curro 2:42 ND 5-6 Shaylyn Blaney Kailene Abt 2:15 ND 6-6 Maggie Tamasitis (2) Kaitlin Keena
First OvertimeTime Team Score Goal Assist No Scoring
Second OvertimeTime Team Score Goal Assist0:38 ND 7-6 Gina Scioscia Free-Position shot
Goalkeepers:Notre Dame: Ellie Hilling - 71:22 min; 6 goals against, 8 savesBoston University: Rachel Klein - 71:22 min; 7 goals against, 11 saves
Total Shots: Notre Dame: 25; Boston University: 17Ground Balls: Notre Dame: 29; Boston University: 29Draw Controls: Notre Dame: 10; Boston University: 8Caused Turnovers: Notre Dame: 14; Boston University: 12