April 13, 2007
Notre Dame, Ind. –
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• The Game: #11/#10 Notre Dame (10-3/2-1) vs. #9/#9 Georgetown (7-5/3-0)
• Date/Time/Site: Sat., April 14, 2007 • 1:00 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.
IRISH HOMESTAND ENDS: The Notre Dame women’s lacrosse team closes out its five-game homestand on Saturday, April 14 when the Irish play host to ninth-ranked Georgetown in a key BIG EAST game. The contest will be played at Moose Krause Stadium with the opening draw set for 1:00 p.m. Notre Dame is 3-1 on the current homestand with wins over Connecticut, Duquesne and California and a loss to fourth-ranked Duke. The Irish enter the weekend with a 10-3 overall record and a 2-1 mark in the BIG EAST. Georgetown is 7-5 overall but 3-0 in BIG EAST play and leads the conference. Notre Dame, Syracuse and Rutgers are all tied for second with 2-1 league marks.Those four teams have clinched spots in the first-ever BIG EAST Tournament that will be held April, 27-29 at Syracuse. All that needs decided is where the teams will be seeded. The Irish are currently ranked 11th in the IWLCA poll and 10th by Inside Lacrosse.com. Georgetown is ninth in both polls. The Hoyas have played once this week, dropping a 14-7 decision at No. 5 Virginia on Wednesday afternoon. Following this weekend’s game, Notre Dame takes to the road for a 4:00 p.m. game at Vanderbilt on Wed., April 18 before returning home to face Rutgers on Sat., April 21 in a 3:00 p.m. game at Moose Krause Stadium.
BIG EAST TOURNAMENT: The BIG EAST will host its first-ever tournament this season, April 27-29, at Syracuse, N.Y. Heading into this weekend’s games, Georgetown is first with a 3-0 record while Notre Dame, Rutgers and Syracuse are all 2-1. Here are the remaining BIG EAST games that will determine the final standings for the tournament: Friday, April 13 – Rutgers at Syracuse; Saturday, April 14 – Georgetown at Notre Dame; Saturday, April 21 – Rutgers at Notre Dame; Loyola at Syracuse; Sunday, April 22 – Connecticut at Georgetown. Connecticut is 1-3 and Loyola is 0-4 in league play and won’t make the tournament.
LIVE VIDEO STREAMING: Notre Dame’s two remaining home games (Georgetown and 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 HOYAS: Notre Dame and Georgetown have met eight times in the all-time series with the Hoyas owning a 7-1 edge in those games. At Notre Dame, the Irish are 1-3 against Georgetown and in Washington, D.C., the Irish are 0-4. Georgetown won the first seven meetings between the two teams, including last year’s regular-season game in Washington where they handed the Irish an 11-10 loss in two overtimes. Notre Dame’s first win against the Hoyas came last May 20, in the quarterfinals of the NCAA tournament, when the Irish won 12-9 at Moose Krause Stadium to advance to the NCAA finals in Boston. Georgetown has never lost a BIG EAST regular-season game in seven seasons (37-0) and owns six consecutive BIG EAST regular-season titles.
HEAD COACH Tracy Coyne: Tracy Coyne is in her 11th season at Notre Dame and 20th year in collegiate lacrosse. Coyne brings a 211-93 (.694) career record into the week against Georgetown and is 97-67 (.591) at Notre Dame. 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 1-7 all-time against Georgetown.
ON A ROLL: Last Friday’s loss to Duke snapped a four-game Notre Dame winning streak. The Irish have now won eight of their last 10 games and are 25-7 (.781) over the last two seasons.
DUKE RECAP: The fourth-ranked Duke Blue Devils visited South Bend on Friday, April 5 and handed Notre Dame a 20-10 loss at the Loftus Center. The Irish jumped out to a 3-1 lead in the first seven minutes before Duke ran off nine consecutive and 10 of the final 11 goals of the first half for an 11-4 halftime lead. The Blue Devils started the second stanza with three straight goals on the way to a 14-4 advantage on the way to the 20-10 final score. Jillian Byers (So., Northport, N.Y.) led the Irish with her third consecutive four-goal game. Kaki Orr (Sr., Darien, Conn.) added two goals while Caitlin McKinney (Jr., Lafayette Hill, Pa.), Lena Zentgraf (Sr., Charlottesville, Va.), Mary Carpenter (Jr., Rochester, N.Y.) and Jane Stoeckert (So., Mendham, N.J.) all had single goals in the loss. Duke out shot Notre Dame, 33-23 in the game. Goalkeeper Erin Goodman (So., Cortlandt Manor, N.Y.) made six saves in the game.
BACK ON TRACK VERSUS CAL: The Irish quickly got back on the winning side of the ledger on Sunday, April 7 with a 16-11 win against the California Golden Bears at the Loftus Center. Jane Stoeckert (3g, 3a) and Mary Carpenter (3 goals) led the Notre Dame attack. Stoeckert’s six-point game was a career high for the sophomore midfielder. The Irish fell behind in this game, 5-2, just over 11 minutes into the game before the offense came alive. They ended the half with six straight goals for an 8-5 halftime lead and opened the scoring in the second half to make it 9-5. The lead would go to 16-9 before a pair of late Cal goals made it 16-11. Meghan Murphy (Sr., Centennial, Colo.) had four points in the game (2g, 2a) while Caitlin McKinney, Jillian Byers and Heather Ferguson (Jr., Newtown Square, Pa.) each scored twice. Lena Zentgraf and Gina Scioscia (Fr., Summit, N.J.) scored single goals in the win. Erin Goodman made five saves in goal for the Irish.
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.
10-WIN SEASONS: With 10 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 10 this season.
HOME SWEET HOME: Notre Dame’s loss to Duke was the second home loss for the Irish this season, dropping them to 5-2 at home. The Irish are 3-2 this season at the Loftus Sports Center and 2-0 at Moose Krause Stadium. In 2006, the Irish were 9-0 at home and are now 14-2 between the Loftus Center and Moose Krause Stadium over the last two years.
IRISH STREAKS: Junior attack standout Caitlin McKinney has run her personal point-scoring streak to 35 games, the second-longest point streak in Notre Dame history. Only former Irish standout Danielle Shearer `03 has a longer streak – 36 games (85g, 51a, 136 pts) from 2001-03. During her 35-game streak, the eighth-longest active streak in the country, McKinney has 85 goals and 39 assists for 124 points. Other current scoring streaks for the Irish include:
Jillian Byers – 13 games (44-7-51)
Lena Zentgraf – 13 games (15-15-30)
Jane Stoeckert – 11games (15-12-27)
Kaki Orr – 4 games (5-4-9)
Heather Ferguson – 3 games (4-2-6)
Mary Carpenter – 2 games (4-0-4)
CENTURY MARK: Sophomore Jillian Byers comes into the Georgetown game, needing just two goals to reach the 100 mark for her career. She currently has 98 goals and 31 assists for 129 career points in 32 career games. 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. STICK WITH STOECKERT: Sophomore midfielder Jane Stoeckert led Notre Dame in scoring in the win over California, recording career highs in goals (3), assists (3) and points (6). She also has set career highs in goals (15), assists (12) and points (27) for the season. Stoeckert now has scored points in 11 straight games and is fifth on the team in scoring. As a freshman, Stoeckert had 11 goals and nine assists for 20 points in 19 games.
VERSUS THE BEST: When Notre Dame faces Georgetown on April 14, it will mark the ninth top 20 team that the Irish have faced this season. To date, the Irish are 5-3 in games versus ranked teams. They own wins over #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 and #4 Duke.
RECORD WATCH: Senior Kaki Orr (Darien, Conn.) leads Notre Dame with 42 draw controls this season. That ranks second in the BIG EAST and 13th in the country. She needs just three more draw controls to set a new single-season record at Notre Dame. The previous record is 44 and was set last season by Crysti Foote `06. Her 101 career draw controls rank her third all-time at Notre Dame. She is two behind Foote in second and 25 behind all-time leader, current assistant coach, Alissa Moser `02, who had 126 draw controls in her Irish career.
CAREER YEAR: Senior Meghan Murphy has become an offensive force for the Irish over the last nine games as she has scored 27 points (14g, 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 third on the team with career highs in goals (17), assists (16) and points (33), breaking her previous career bests of 14-9-23 set in 2006.
SCORING RACE: Jillian Byers and Caitlin McKinney come into the weekend tied for the team lead in scoring with 51 points each. Byers has 44 goals and seven assists for her 51 points while McKinney has 35 goals and 16 assists for her 51-point season.
THE CENTURY MARK: With four goals in the win over Loyola on March 25, junior Caitlin McKinney scored her 30th goal of the season and the 100th of her career on her fourth goal of the game. McKinney now has 105 goals to rank fifth on the all-time goal list (Meredith Simon is fourth with 109). Her 16 assists this season give her 50 for her career and rank her fifth in that category (Kerry Callahan is fourth with 63). She now has 155 career points and has moved into fifth on the all-time points list, just three behind Meredith Simon’s 158.
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 fist 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.
LEAN ON LENA: Senior midfielder Lena Zentgraf has already put together a career year for the Irish in her final season. Zentgraf goes into this week’s action with career highs in goals (15), assists (15) and points (30) to rank fourth in team scoring. Zentgraf’s previous best season came in 2005 when she had 11 goals and eight assists for 19 points.
RECORD-SETTING GAME: When the Irish held Loyola (Md.) to just one goal on March 25 in the 11-1 win, it set a Notre Dame and BIG EAST record for the fewest goals allowed in a game. The previous mark of two goals had been set by the Irish in a 9-2 win at Rutgers on April 28, 2002. Four times in the program’s history, the Irish had limited their opponent to just two goals in a game.
MAKING THE STOPS: Sophomore goaltender Erin Goodman (Cortlandt Manor, N.Y.) improved her overall record to 10-3 with a 10.34 goals-against average and a .452 save percentage after defeating California, 16-11, on April 7. 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 182 in their first 13 games for an average of 14.00 per game. Leading the team is senior Kaki Orr who has 42 for the year and is second in the conference with 3.23 per game. She is followed by Lena Zentgraf who has 26 on the year or 2.00 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 182 draw controls while losing 150 for a 54.8% success rate in the first 13 games of the season.
BREAK OUT GAME: Junior Mary Carpenter equaled a career high when she scored three goals in Notre Dame’s 16-11 win over California. The three-goal game was her second multiple goal game of the season. Her previous three-goal outing came on March 5, 2006 versus Cornell. She now has eight goals and one assist for nine points on the year. Carpenter has four goals in her last two games.
MOVER AND SHAKER: The ink wasn’t even dry on the 2007 Notre Dame women’s lacrosse media guide and already sophomore Jillian Byers has broken a record. With 21 goals and four assists through the first five games, Byers became the quickest player in Irish history to reach 100 points in her career with 75 goals and 28 assists for 103 points in her first 24 games. She breaks the record set last season by Caitlin McKinney who scored 100 points in her first 33 games. Byers has now played in 32 games and has 98 goals and 31 assists for 129 career points.
GOOD FOR GAUDREAU: After seeing action in just two games as a freshman, sophomore attacker Kelly Gaudreau (Annapolis, Md.) wasted little time getting on the scoreboard in her first action of 2007. She scored twice in the second half for her first goal and first two-goal game of her career in the same contest at Cansisius on March 10th.
FRESHMAN FIRSTS: Notre Dame freshman Gina Scioscia (Summit, N.J.) recorded the first goal, first assist and first multiple-point game of her career in the 18-10 loss to Northwestern. She followed up with an assist in the 13-9 win over Cornell and had two goals and an assist against Canisius. Scioscia has four goals and four assists in the first 13 games of her Irish career.
OVERTIME NUMBERS: The Irish seem to play their share of overtime and one-goal games. The first two games this season went to extra time. On Feb. 18 at James Madison, the team’s played 68:44 before Jillian Byers scored in sudden victory of the Irish. On Feb. 24, Notre Dame and Stanford played overtime for the second year in a row. This time, Caitlin McKinney scored with seven seconds left for the win. In 2006, the Irish were 1-1 in two sudden-victory games, losing at Georgetown (11-10) after winning a 12-11 game at Stanford. On March 30, the Irish defeated Connecticut for their third one-goal win of the year. Notre Dame has now played 13 overtime games in their 11 seasons and are 6-7 in those games. Over the last two seasons, the Irish are 7-2 in one goal games and 14-16 in the program’s history.