March 22, 1999

  • Notre Dame beats Boston College, Richmond and Gannon
  • O’Shaughnessy off to quick start with 15 goals in ’99

NOTRE DAME, Ind. — The Notre Dame women’s lacrosse team opened its 1999 season with wins over Boston College, Richmond and Gannon. The Irish return to action on March 23 in a 3:00 p.m. game at Syracuse.

UP NEXT FOR THE IRISH: Notre Dame will take on Syracuse on Tues., March 23 at 3:00 p.m. The Orangewomen handed the Irish a 20-9 loss at Moose Krause Stadium last year in the only meeting between the two teams. Syracuse, having played highly ranked teams, currently has a 1-3 record after beating Albany 18-3 on Saturday.

GANNON RECAP: Sophomore Courtney Calabrese (Darien, Conn.) scored six goals and senior Kerry Callahan (Churchville, Pa.) added six assists as Notre Dame beat host Gannon 20-10 on Wednesday. Sophomore Lael O’Shaughnessy (Alexandria, Va.) scored five goals for the third time in as many games this year. The Irish led 12-6 at halftime and scored the first seven goals of the second half to build a 19-6 lead. Notre Dame scored on 20 of 28 shots and outshot Gannon 28-17. The Irish dominated groundballs, collecting 23 to Gannon’s one. Notre Dame controlled 19 of the 22 draws. Callahan finished with three goals and six assists for nine points. Freshmen Alissa Moser (North Wales, Pa.), Maureen Henwood (Marlton, N.J.), Natalie Loftus (Baltimore, Md.) and Maureen Whitaker (Doylestown, Pa.) also contributed to the scoring, while freshman Katherine Scarola (Windsor, Conn.) scored her first career goal.

RICHMOND RECAP: Moser scored with 1:25 into the second overtime period as the Irish edged Richmond 14-13 in sudden-death double overtime at Lakewood Field in St. Petersburg, Fla. O’Shaughnessy scored five goals for the second straight game, and Calabrese had three goals to lead the Irish.

O’Shaughnessy scored her fifth goal of the game with 33 seconds left in regulation to put Notre Dame ahead 12-11 but Richmond won the ensuing draw and tied the game 13 seconds later, sending the Irish into their first ever overtime game. In overtime, which consists of two three-minute halves followed by six-minute sudden death periods, the Spiders struck in the first overtime period to take a 13-12 lead. Sophomore Kathryn Perrella (Valley Cottage, N.Y.) scored on an isolation to tie the score and send the game into double overtime and into sudden death. Moser then sent the Irish to their second win in four days with her game-winning goal 1:25 into sudden death. The teams played 67:25 after 60 minutes of regulation, six minutes of overtime and 1:25 of double overtime.

Notre Dame had jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead in the first 2:22 of the game but Richmond rebounded to score nine of the next 11 goals and grab a 9-5 lead. After the Irish cut the score to 8-9 with 15:03 remaining in the second half, their were five ties and three lead changes in the contest. Richmond went up 11-10 with 5:32 remaining in the second half but Calabrese and O’Shaughnessy both netted scores and the Notre Dame defense held the Spiders scoreless until they scored with 20 seconds remaining in regulation.

BOSTON COLLEGE RECAP: O’Shaughnessy scored five goals and Callahan added five assists as Notre Dame opened its third season with a 13-9 win over Boston College. After trailing 4-2 early in the game and heading into halftime with a 6-6 tie, the Irish outscored the Eagles 7-3 in the second half to win their third consecutive season opener. Notre Dame scored on 13 of 32 shots, including two goals on five free position shots. The Irish also collected 18 groundballs and caused three turnovers. Sophomore goalkeeper Carrie Marshall (Colorado Springs, Colo.) made 13 saves in playing all 60 minutes of action.

O’Shaughnessy scored three goals in the first half and two in the second half with her last tally putting the Irish ahead 10-7. Callahan, Calabrese and Perrella each added a pair of goals. Loftus and Moser each scored a goal in their first career game. Sophomore Maura Doyle (Cockeysville, Md.) added an assist.

O’SHAUGHNESSY OFF TO FAST START: Irish sophomore attack Lael O’Shaughnessy has begun the 1999 season on a scoring spree with five goals in each of the first three games. She already is halfway to her 1998 goal total of 27 goals in the 12 games she played. O’Shaughnessy is second on the team in scoring with 16 points, behind the 18 points of Kerry Callahan, who has seven goals and 11 assists.

COYNE AT THE HELM: Irish head coach Tracy Coyne is in her third season as head coach of the Notre Dame women’s lacrosse team and in her 12th season overall after coaching Roanoke for seven years and at Denison for two years. In 11-plus seasons as a head coach, her lacrosse teams have a combined 129-36 record (.782), qualified for the NCAA championship six years, won seven conference titles and won 10-plus games in nine of those seasons. She has led Notre Dame to two winning seasons and has a 15-10 (.600) record during her time with the Irish.

COYNE COMMENTS: “We are very pleased with how the season has gone so far. We’ve opened up with a difficult schedule and were down in the first two games but came back to win. The win over Gannon was good because we got off to a strong start and maintained a high level of play and held them scoreless for 22 minutes in the second half.

“Obviously, we have a lot of respect for Syracuse. Even though they are a new program, they are very talented and have a lot of great players. We will have to play well to beat them at their place.”