Feb. 19, 2012
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The University of Notre Dame women’s lacrosse team ushered in the Christine Halfpenny era in grand fashion, knocking off Stanford, 17-14, Sunday at Arlotta Stadium.
“It always feels good when your team takes what it worked on in practice and applies it to the game and you get a win,” said first year head coach Christine Halfpenny. “It definitely feels good to be 1-0 at Notre Dame.”
The Irish (1-0) used a 12-goal first half outpouring to take the lead into the locker room and never looked back, handing the Cardinal (0-3) their third consecutive defeat to begin the year.
“Overall we are really excited in our performance in the first half,” stated Halfpenny. “We came out strong and we accomplished our goal of winning the first 10 minutes of the game. The win definitely builds confidence. Stanford made adjustments in the second half and we stayed poised and composed.”
Sophomore Lindsay Powell led all scorers with five goals in the contest for the Irish, while junior Jaimie Morrison chipped in four goals, senior Megan Sullivan added three, juniors Jenny Granger and McKenzie Brown added two and senior Maggie Tamasitis recorded one. Tamasitis finished with a seven-point opener for the Irish, assisting on six Irish tallies to go along with her one goal.
Anna Boeri and Anna Kim led the way for Stanford, posting three goals apiece. Emilie Boeri added two goals, while Hannah Farr, Emily Newstrom, Catherine Swanson, Kyle Fraser, Rachel Ozer and Rachel Hinds each added one. A. Boeri chipped in one assist to lead the Cardinal with a four-point afternoon.
Junior Ellie Hilling turned in a solid start in cage for Notre Dame, finishing the match with 10 saves to go along with the 14 goals against, while Stanford netminder Lyndsey Munoz concluded the day with 17 saves and 17 goals against.
Notre Dame never trailed in the matchup, jumping out to a 2-0 lead on the Cardinal. Granger opened the scoring, gathering in a pass from Tamasitis in front of the cage at 26:40, before M. Sullivan moved the lead to two at 23:48, scoring on a free position shot.
Stanford got on the board at 23:01 as A. Boeri reached the back of the net, however Notre Dame responded 32 seconds later as Tamasitis scored unassisted to again build a two-goal cushion.
After Kim scored for Stanford on a free position shot to close the score to 3-2, the Irish turned in four consecutive goals to hold a 7-2 advantage. In that run, the Irish used a pair of goals from Powell along with one each from Morrison and M. Sullivan. Newstrom ended the Irish rally with a marker at 18:30, but the Irish again countered with a pair of their own as Powell scored her third of the contest at 13:14 with Brown getting on the score sheet 29 seconds later to advance the score to 9-3.
Kim got back into the goal column with her second of the game at 12:01 for the Cardinal but Brown posted her second goal of the half at 10:58 to keep the margin at six. Morrison then claimed her second tally of the game for the Irish, scoring at 8:54 off yet another feed from Tamasitis.
Stanford ended the half with momentum, scoring three of the final four goals to cut the margin to 12-7 at the break. C. Swanson and E. Boeri registered back-to-back tallies to cut the lead to 11-6 before Granger picked up a feed from Tamasitis to end the run. Stanford then scored the final marker of the first stanza as E. Boeri beat Hilling for her second of the half with 3:40 left on the clock.
The second half saw the Irish and Cardinal trade goals through the first four scores. Morrison got the scoring going for the Irish with a free position goal at 27:36 to claim a hat trick of her own, before Farr responded for Stanford 24 seconds later with a free position goal as well. After M. Sullivan found the back of the net for the Irish at 22:12, A. Boeri took a pass from Maria Fortino to make the score 14-9.
The Cardinal then cut the lead to just three as Fraser recorded a free position goal at 17:24 before Hinds notched her first of the game at 12:40 forcing the Irish to take a timeout to slow down the play.
The strategy worked, as at the 8:36 mark Powell earned her fourth goal of the contest on an unassisted tally. Stanford continued to claw back into the game, scoring three of the next four goals to cut the margin to two, but Morrison secured the victory emphatically with her fourth goal of the game off an assist by Tamasitis with one second left on the clock.
The win marks the ninth straight year that Notre Dame has begun the season with a victory. The Irish return to competition next Saturday when they square off against Duquesne at noon (ET) in hopes of beginning the 2012 campaign 2-0.
**IRISH NOTES**
** With her five assists in the first half of play, senior attacker Maggie Tamasitis set a new Irish program record for most assists in one half. The previous record was four, which she accomplished April 16, 2011 in the first half against Connecticut. Her six total assists also tie the program mark for most helpers in a game and is the second time of her career she accomplished the feat (Connecticut, 2011).
** Tamasitis also moved into second on the scoring streaks list, having now tallied at least one point in 38 consecutive contests, dating back to Feb. 23, 2010.
** With her two-goal output, junior midfielder McKenzie Brown has already matched her goal total from her prior two years with the team.
** Megan Sullivan matched a career best with her four-point game against Stanford. She last recorded four points in a contest on March 27, 2010 against Louisville.
** Jaimie Morrison’s four goals mark a career best in a single game for the junior attacker. Her previous high was two against Loyola on May 7, 2011.
** Lindsay Powell scored her first career goal with the Irish, ending the match with a team- and game-best five goals.
–ND–