April 1, 2011
Notre Dame, Ind. – Freshman midfielder Kaitlyn Brosco scored three goals and teammates Kaitlin Keena and Kailene Abt had three-point nights to lead Notre Dame to an 11-6 win over Rutgers on Friday night under the lights at Arlotta Stadium.
Megan Sullivan, Ansley Stewart and Shaylyn Blaney scored one goal each as the Irish snapped a two-game losing track at the right time, picking up the win over the Scarlet Knights in the BIG EAST opener for the Irish.
Kristen Anderson led Rutgers with three goals while Shawn Lopez scored twice with Lauren Sbrilli getting the Knights’ sixth goal of the game.
The win improved Notre Dame to 4-5 overall and 1-0 in the BIG EAST while Rutgers falls to 6-4 overall and 1-2 in conference action.
The Irish continue their two-game homestand on Sunday, April 3 at 1:00 p.m. when they host the fifth-ranked Loyola (Md.) Greyhounds who improved to 9-0 on Friday afternoon with a 17-3 victory at Cincinnati. Loyola is now 1-0 in conference play.
Notre Dame dominated the game by out shooting Rutgers, 37-17 in the game. Scarlet Knight goalkeeper Lily Kalata was busy all night and kept her team in most of the game and finished with nine saves in the game. Irish goalkeeper Ellie Hilling had five saves in the victory.
Notre Dame wasted little time getting on the scoreboard as the Irish controlled the opening draw with Keena taking the ball all the way and scoring just nine seconds into the game.
Anderson evened the score at 1-1 with her first of the night less than five minutes later at 24:57. Notre Dame followed with the next two goals, taking a lead that the Irish would not surrender.
Granger made it 2-1 in favor of the Irish at 24:30 and Blaney scored unassisted to make it 3-1 at 21:49. Sbrilli cut the lead to one at 3-2 when she scored at 19:34.
The one-goal margin stood for over nine minutes until Brosco made her presence felt, scoring her first of the evening with 10:01 left in the half. Stewart pounced on a loose ball in front of the Rutgers goal and shoveled a shot past Kalata at 8:11 to make it a three-goal game at 5-2.
Anderson got the final goal of the half at 4:50, beating Hilling on a free-position shot and the teams went to the half with the Irish leading, 5-3.
Just like the first half the Irish struck quickly in the second half with Sullivan converting a pass from Maggie Tamasitis just 52 seconds into the half to make it 6-3. Abt got her first of two at 24:02 and the Irish had a 7-3 lead and continued to control the play as they had 16 shots in the opening half and 21 in the second.
Anderson closed out her three-goal game at 20:12 to make it 7-4 and the Irish appeared content to work for good shots and kill the clock. That backfired with 10:59 left in the game as Lopez converted from in front to cut the lead to 7-5 and the Scarlet Knights were back in the game.
That goal triggered something in the Irish attack as they ran off three goals in a 34 second span to open a five-goal lead with 10:14 left.
Keena set up Abt on a pretty passing play just 11 seconds after Lopez made it a two-goal game at 10:48. Twenty seconds later the lead was 9-5 as Sullivan found Brosco in front of the goal for the freshman’s second marker of the night, this one at 10:28.
Just 14 seconds later Abt returned the favor to Keena setting up her second goal of the night at 10:14 and the lead was 10-5.
Brosco closed out her three-goal game with seven minutes left on the clock for an 11-5 lead. Lopez would get the final goal of the game on a free-position shot for the 11-6 final score.
With her one assist in the game, Tamasitis extended her consecutive-point streak to 27 games as she now has 28 goals and 45 assists for 73 points in a streak that started on opening day of the 2010 season. Granger, Abt and Blaney all continued scoring streaks of their own.
GAME SUMMARY 1 2 - FRutgers (6-4/1-2) 3 3 - 6Notre Dame (4-5/1-0) 5 6 - 11
ScoringFirst Half:Time Team Score Goal Assist29:50 ND 1-0 Kaitlin Keena24:57 RU 1-1 Kristen Anderson Katherine Marino24:30 ND 2-1 Jenny Granger21:49 ND 3-1 Shaylyn Blaney19:34 RU 3-2 Lauren Sbrilli10:01 ND 4-2 Kaitlyn Brosco 8:11 ND 5-2 Ansley Stewart 4:50 ND 5-3 Kristen Anderson (2) Free-position shot
Second HalfTime Team Score Goal Assist29:08 ND 6-3 Megan Sullivan Maggie Tamasitis24:02 ND 7-3 Kailene Abt20:12 RU 7-4 Kristen Anderson (3)10:59 RU 7-5 Shawn Lopez10:48 ND 8-5 Kailene Abt (2) Kaitlin Keena10:28 ND 9-5 Kaitlyn Brosco (2) Megan Sullivan10:14 ND 10-5 Kaitlin Keena (2) Kailene Abt 7:00 ND 11-5 Kaitlyn Brosco (3) 2:43 RU 11-6 Shawn Lopez (2) Free-position shot
Goalkeepers:Rutgers: Lily Kalata (57:17 min; 11 goals against, 9 saves) Aimee Chotikul I2:43 min; 0 goals against, 1 save)Notre Dame: Ellie Hilling (60:00 min; 6 goals against; 5 saves)
Total Shots: Rutgers: 21, Notre Dame: 37Ground Balls: Rutgers: 15, Notre Dame: 21Draw Controls: Rutgers: 8, Notre Dame: 11Caused Turnovers: Rutgers: 0, Notre Dame: 8