Feb. 15, 2008
Notre Dame, Ind. – The Notre Dame women’s lacrosse team got off to a fast start on Friday at the Loftus Sports Center, as the Irish equaled a school record by scoring 22 goals on the way to a 22-10 win over the Canisius Golden Griffins.
Ten different players scored goals on the afternoon led by five each from senior Caitlin McKinney (Lafayette Hill, Pa.) and junior Jillian Byers (Northport, N.Y.). Freshman Shaylyn Blaney (Stony Brook, N.Y.) added four goals while Alicia Billings (Jr., Potomac, Md.) had two and Heather Ferguson (Sr., Newtown Square, Pa.), Kaitlin Keena (Fr., Vienna, Va.), Gina Scioscia (So., Summit, N.J.), Shannon Burke (Jr., Baltimore, Md.), Jackie Doherty (Fr., Ellicott City, Md.) and Julie Foote (Sr., Suffern, N.Y.) had single goals for the Irish.
McKinney (two assists) equaled a career-best with seven points while Byers (one assist) and Blaney (two assists) had six-point games to start the season. Keena had three assists for the game and a four-point contest in her collegiate debut.
Ashley Gray led Canisius with three goals and two assists in the game. Whitney Card and Chelsea Martinez scored twice with Taylor Gray, Lauren Welsh and Brett Poissant scoring one each.
The win gives Notre Dame a 1-0 record and makes the Irish 10-2 all-time in season openers. Canisius opens the season with an 0-1 record.
Notre Dame scored early and often in this game, building a 6-0 lead in the first 10:17 of the game. McKinney and Keena teamed up to score the first goal of the season just 49 seconds into the game as Keena found McKinney all alone in front for a 1-0 lead. The goal by McKinney extended her school-record point streak to 40 games.
Ferguson (27:17), Scioscia (25:49), Blaney (24:07), McKinney and Billings (19:43) wrapped up the 6-0 run before Canisius found its legs.
Card broke the run with her first of the night at 17:18 and her goal got the Griffins on a four-goal spree as Poissant, Martinez and Ashley Gray scored in a 2:23 span to make it a 6-4 game.
Blaney, recognized as the top freshman in the nation, put a halt to any Canisius plans to tie the game as she score the next two goals at 14:46 and 12:16 to build an 8-4 lead. Her goal at 14:46 came off the draw as she won it to herself and then raced down the field through the Canisius defense before beating goalkeeper Allison Daley for the goal.
Martinez scored on a free-position shot at 10:10 before Byers got the first two of her five goals, scoring at 7:38 and then with three seconds left to send the Irish into the intermission with a 10-5 lead.
McKinney scored just 50 seconds into the half for her third of the night and the eventual game winner only to see Canisius score four of the next five goals to make it a 12-9 game with 18:38 left. Card’s free-position goal at 18:38 would be the last goal the Griffins would get until the final minute as the Irish ran off 10 straight goals over the next 15:33. McKinney added two more with Byers scoring three and Blaney one with additional scores from Burke (16:05), Doherty (9:30), Foote (8:16) and Keena (5:35) wrapping up the Notre Dame scoring.
Gray would close the scoring with a goal at 1:10 for the final score of 22-10.
For the night, the Irish peppered Daley with 46 shots, one off the Notre Dame school record. She finished the night with 15 saves. Canisius had 19 shots on the Notre Dame goal with Erin Goodman (Jr., Cortlandt Manor, N.Y.) making seven saves on the night.
Notre Dame returns to action on Sunday, Feb. 17 when the Irish play host to the Duquesne Dukes in a 12:00 noon contest. The game will be played indoors at the Loftus Sports Center.
IRISH NOTES:
** The next win for Notre Dame will be the 100th in the program’s 12-year history and will also be head coach Tracy Coyne’s 100th win with the Irish as the only coach in the program’s history. Under Coyne, Notre Dame is 99-70 (.586).
** During McKinney’s 40-game point streak, the talented midfielder has 99 goals and 46 assists for 145 points. Jillian Byers also has an 18-game point streak (63 goals and nine assists) while Jane Stoeckert (Jr., Mendham, N.J.) has scored in 16 straight games as she added an assist in the win. She has 21 goals and 16 assists during her streak.
GAME SUMMARY 1 2 - FCanisius (0-1) 5 5 - 10#12 Notre Dame (1-0) 10 12 - 22First HalfTime Team Score Goal Assist29:11 ND 1-0 Caitlin McKinney (1) Kaitlin Keena (1)27:17 ND 2-0 Heather Ferguson (1)25:49 ND 3-0 Gina Scioscia (1) Free-position shot24:07 ND 4-0 Shaylyn Blaney (1) Kaitlin Keena (2)20:48 ND 5-0 Caitlin McKinney (2)19:43 ND 6-0 Alicia Billings (1) Free-position shot17:18 CAN 6-1 Whitney Card (1)15:55 CAN 6-2 Brett Poissant (1) Lauren Walsh (1)15:27 CAN 6-3 Chelsea Martinez (1)14:55 CAN 6-4 Ashley Gray (1)14:46 ND 7-4 Shaylyn Blaney (2)12:16 ND 8-4 Shaylyn Blaney (3) Free-position shot10:10 CAN 8-5 Chelsea Martinez (2) Lauren Walsh (2) 7:38 ND 9-5 Jillian Byers (1) Gina Scioscia (1) 0:03 ND 10-5 Jillian Byers (2) Caitlin McKinney (1)Second HalfTime Team Score Goal Assist29:10 ND 11-5 Caitlin McKinney (3)25:20 CAN 11-6 Ashley Gray (2) Carley Quinn24:36 CAN 11-7 Lauren Walsh (1) Ashley Gray23:49 ND 12-7 Alicia Billings (2) Shaylyn Blaney (1)23:10 CAN 12-8 Taylor Gray (1) Ashley Gray (2)18:38 CAN 12-9 Whitney Card (2) Free-position shot17:39 ND 13-9 Caitlin McKinney (4)16:25 ND 14-9 Caitlin McKinney (5) Jillian Byers (1)16:05 ND 15-9 Shannon Burke (1) Caitlin McKinney (2)14:59 ND 16-9 Jillian Byers (3) Free-position shot14:38 ND 17-9 Shaylyn Blaney (4) Heather Ferguson (1)13:57 ND 18-9 Jillian Byers (4) Free-position shot 9:30 ND 19-9 Jackie Doherty (1) Shaylyn Blaney (2) 8:16 ND 20-9 Julie Foote (1) Kaitlin Keena (3) 5:35 ND 21-9 Kaitlin Keena (1) Jane Stoeckert (1) 3:05 ND 22-9 Jillian Byers (5) 1:10 CAN 22-10 Ashley Gray (3)Goalkeepers:Canisius: (Allison Daley: 60:00 min; 22 goals, 15 saves)Notre Dame: (Erin Goodman: 60:00 min; 10 goals, 7 saves)
Total Shots: CAN - 19; ND - 46Groundballs: CAN - 11; ND - 15Draw Controls: CAN - 16; ND - 17Caused Turnovers: CAN - 5; ND - 8