March 17, 2009
Notre Dame, Ind. –
Complete Release in PDF Format 
• The Game: #11/#10 Notre Dame (6-1/0-0) vs. Rutgers (3-3/0-0)
• Date/Time/Site: Tuesday, March 17, 2009 • 7:00 p.m. • Loftus Sports Center • Notre Dame, Ind.
• All Notre Dame home women’s lacrosse games can be seen live via video streaming at und.com; follow the Irish via GameTracker on und.com.
BIG EAST LIDLIFTER: The Notre Dame women’s lacrosse team opens the 2009 BIG EAST schedule on Tuesday, March 17 when the Irish face the Rutgers Scarlet Knights in a St. Patrick’s Day contest. The game will be played at 7:00 p.m. at the Loftus Sports Center. Notre Dame brings a 6-1 record into the game and is currently on a five-game winning streak that started on Feb. 22. Tonight’s game is the second of five in a row at home for the Irish who opened the homestand last Saturday with a 17-15 win over Hofstra. They are currently ranked 11th in the IWLCA coaches poll and 10th by Inside Lacrosse.com. Rutgers visits Notre Dame with a 3-3 overall record and will be looking to bounce back from a 24-1 loss at top-ranked Northwestern last Saturday in Evanston, Ill. The Scarlet Knights own wins this season over Temple, Delaware and St. Joseph’s while recording losses at Cornell (8-7 in 4ot), Princeton (9-8) and Northwestern. Rutgers will return home following the Notre Dame game to play host to Denver on Friday, March 20.
IRISH AND SCARLET KNIGHTS: Notre Dame and Rutgers will meet for the 10th time in the all-time series on March 17th. The Irish hold a 6-3 edge in the series, including a 3-1 mark at home versus the Scarlet Knights. The two teams met last season at Rutgers with Notre Dame winning, 20-9. Tuesday’s game is the BIG EAST opener for both squads.
FAST AND FURIOUS: Notre Dame and Hofstra opened the five-game Irish homestand on Saturday, March 13 with the teams combining for 32 goals in a 17-15 Notre Dame win. Jillian Byers (Sr., Northport, N.Y.) led the Irish with six goals and one assist and she was followed by Gina Scioscia (Jr., Summit, N.J.) who had four goals and two assists. Shaylyn Blaney (So., Stony Brook, N.Y.) also had four goals while Ansley Stewart (So., Alexandria, Va.), Kaitlin Keena (So., Vienna, Va.) and Maggie Zentgraf (Jr., Charlottesville, Va.) each added one goal. The Pride matched the Irish punch for punch, coming up two goals short in the contest. Liz Flaco led the way with four goals while Corrine Gandolfi had three. Lauren Whitcomb and Kailey Ruszkowski each had two goals. Notre Dame led this one 10-8 at halftime and was able to open a 14-9 lead with 19:00 left. Hofstra cut the lead to 16-14 with 7:06 left only to see Blaney restore a three-goal lead on a free-position shot with 6:47 left. The Pride would score one more goal before the Irish went into a stall for the 17-15 win. Senior goalkeeper Erin Goodman (Cortlandt Manor, N.Y.) had seven saves in the win.
NEXT ON THE DOCKET: Game three of the homestand will come this Sunday, March 22 when Notre Dame squares off at the Loftus Center against the California Golden Bears. The game will start at 1:00 p.m. and can be seen on the Notre Dame website at und.com. Live video streaming for all Irish home games is available free of charge, at und.com.
PROLIFIC POINT PRODUCER: Senior attack standout Jillian Byers continues to add to her accolades at Notre Dame. Versus Hofstra, she had six goals and one assist for a seven point afternoon. In the win over the Pride, she saw her only assist of the game in the first half give her the 250th point of her career. Moments later, on her third goal of the day, Byers was credited with the 200th goal of her Irish career. An All-American and Tewaaraton Trophy candidate, Byers needs just four more draw controls to become the school’s all-time leader in that category. For her career, the Northport, N.Y. native has 203 goals and 52 assists for 255 career points.
PASSING FANCY: While one would expect to see Jill Byers among Notre Dame’s scoring leaders, you might be surprised by who’s tied for the lead. Byers comes into the Rutgers game with 24 goals and six assists for 30 points. She is tied with Gina Scioscia who has 20 goals and 10 assists for her 30 points. Her 20 goals equals her entire output from the 2008 season. During Notre Dame’s five -game winning streak, Scioscia has three or more points in all five games and three-or-more goals in four of them. During her five-game point streak, the playmaker has 16 goals and seven assists for 23 points. Her 10 assists lead the team.