April 25, 2012
EVANSTON, Ill. – Coming off its first loss of the season on Saturday, the No. 1 Northwestern women’s lacrosse team regained its form on Wednesday night with a 17-7 win over the No. 6 Notre Dame Fighting Irish at Lakeside Field.
With the loss the Irish fall to 12-3 and will close out the regular season on Saturday when they welcome in BIG EAST foe Cincinnati to Arlotta for a 12 p.m. match on Senior Day. Honored that day will be Notre Dame’s eight seniors: Kristin DeRespiris, Kelly Driscoll, Brittany Mallory, Flannery Nangle, Kate Newall, Jordy Shoemaker, Megan Sullivan and Maggie Tamasitis.
The Wildcats came out hot, pouring in 12 first half goals to take a commanding 12-3 into the locker room. The Irish limited the high-powered attack of Northwestern to five goals in the second half, while scoring four goals themselves to give the game its final score.
In a losing effort, sophomore Lindsay Powell scored a trio of goals, while M. Sullivan scored two. Northwestern was led by reigning Tewaaraton Award winner Shannon Smith’s five points (2G, 3A) and Erin Fitzgerald’s four goals (4G, 1A). In all, five players scored two or more goals. Brianne LoManto (15-1) allowed five goals in 46:18 of work.
The Irish were hurt most of the game by untimely turnovers and fouls that helped the Wildcats possess the ball and make runs down the field for quick goals. They outshot Notre Dame, 29-20, and also were 6-of-9 on free-position shots compared to 1-of-3 for the Irish.
Notre Dame scored the first goal of the contest off a bullet shot from Powell, but it was all Northwestern after that, as the Wildcats had three separate runs of three goals or more in the first half to take the 12-3 lead into the break.
Despite allowing 17 goals, junior Ellie Hilling made nine saves in the game (eight in the first half), many on point blank shots, which prevented the Wildcats from adding to their goal tally.
NOTES
Senior Maggie Tamasitis saw her consecutive games with a point streak come to an end on Wednesday night at 51. The mark tied the school record that is also held by Caitlin McKinney. McKinney scored in every game she played in from April 24, 2005 to April 9, 2008. Tamasitis’ streak began on Feb. 23, 2010 when the Irish beat Hofstra 13-12 in the first game of her sophomore year.
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