Feb. 17, 2011
Notre Dame, Ind. –
Complete Release in PDF Format
– The Game: #10/#10 Notre Dame (1-1) vs. #2/#2 Northwestern (20-2 in `10)
– Date/Time/Site: Saturday, Feb. 19, 2011 – 5:00 p.m. – Loftus Center – Notre Dame, Ind.
– Internet: Gametracker will be available for the Northwestern game at und.com. Live audio/video streaming is scheduled for the Northwestern game, also at und.com.
LET THE GAMES BEGIN: The Notre Dame women’s lacrosse team begins its 15th home season on Saturday, Feb. 19 at 5:00 p.m. when the Irish play host to the Northwestern Wildcats in a game that will be played indoors at the Loftus Sports Center. The Irish have already played a pair of games, opening last weekend in California, with games against California and Stanford, gaining a split in on the weekend with a win over Cal (20-6) and a loss to Stanford (13-12). For Northwestern, Saturday’s meeting will serve as the season opener for the Wildcats. The Irish come into the weekend ranked 10th in both the IWLCA coaches’ preseason poll and are 10th in the media poll done by Inside Lacrosse. Northwestern, the national runner-up last season, is ranked second in both polls after going 20-2 last season. Prior to last season, the Wildcats had won five consecutive national championships. Following Saturday’s game, Notre Dame returns to the road as the Irish travel to Pittsburgh, Pa., on Sat., Feb. 26 to face Duquense in a noon game.
IRISH VERSUS THE WILDCATS: Notre Dame and Northwestern have met 12 times in the all-time series with the Wildcats holding a 10-2 edge in those meetings. At Notre Dame, Northwestern is 3-1 all-time. The Wildcats have won 10 straight in the series with the last Irish win coming on April 26, 2003. That also was the last time that Notre Dame defeated Northwestern at home. Last season, the team’s met twice, once in the regular season and then again in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. During the regular season, the Irish lost, 15-5, on March 30th in Evanston, Ill. The two teams then met on May 15th at Lakeside Field in the opening round of the NCAAs with Northwestern taking a 19-7 victory to end Notre Dame’s season. The two teams have met three times in the NCAA Tournament (2004, 2008 and 2010) with the Wildcats winning all three meetings.
CALIFORNIA DREAMING: The Irish opened the 2011 season with a 20-6 win at California just hours after the Bears received word that their program would be retained by the University. Last fall the administration announced that women’s lacrosse would be one of several sports dropped for budget reasons. A fired up Cal team came out flying and scored the first goal of the game, but then the Irish proved to be rude guests as they jumped out to an 11-3 halftime lead on the way to the 14-goal win. Twelve different Notre Dame players scored in the game. Sophomore midfielder Jenny Granger (East Setauket, N.Y.) led the Irish with four goals and two assists for a career-high six points. Five players – Maggie Tamasitis (Jr., Boyertown, Pa.), Ansley Stewart (Sr., Alexandra, Va..), Kaitlin Keena (Sr., Vienna, Va.), Kailene Abt (Sr., Huntington, N.Y.) and Kaitlyn Brosco (Fr., Shoreham, N.Y.) added two goals each. Goalkeeper Ellie Hilling (So., Rochester, N.Y.) had a career-high 13 saves in the win.
ONE-GOAL LOSS: The Stanford Cardinal hung a one-goal loss on Notre Dame on Sunday, Feb. 13, out scoring the Irish, 13-12, for the win. That resumed a trend for Notre Dame that started in 2010 when 11 of the team’s 18 games were decided by two or fewer goals. The Irish were 7-4 in those games, including, 5-3, in one-goal contests. At Stanford, the Irish trailed 5-3 at halftime, but tied the game in the second half only to see the lead change six times in the final 23 minutes with the Cardinal getting the eventual game winner with 4:36 left in the contest. Kaitlin Keena, Jenny Granger, Kaitlyn Brosco and Betsy Mastropieri (So., Richmond, Va.) each had two goals in the game. Keena added two assists and Maggie Tamasitis added a goal and three assists for a pair of four-point games in the loss. Ellie Hilling made eight saves in the loss.
THE IRISH ALL-TIME: Notre Dame enters its game with Northwestern on Saturday with an all-time record of 138-90 over the first 15 years of the program. That gives the Irish a .605 winning percentage. That record includes a 67-31 (.684) mark at home, a 57-51 (.528) record on the road and a 14-8 (.636) ledger on neutral fields.
FOR OPENERS: The Irish are now 13-2 all-time in season openers going defeating California, 20-6, on Feb. 11. Notre Dame is now 14-1 in road-opening games. Going into Saturday’s home opener with Northwestern, the Irish are 9-5 in home openers.
HEAD COACH Tracy Coyne: Tracy Coyne is in her 15th season at Notre Dame and her 24th year in collegiate lacrosse. Coyne brings a 252-116 (.685) career record into this week’s games. She recorded her 250th career win on April 22, 2010 in a 12-11 victory at Ohio State, making her just the ninth coach in NCAA history to have 250 or more wins in her career. As the only head coach in the Notre Dame program’s history, Coyne is 138-90 (.605) and has guided the Irish to six NCAA tournaments (2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2009 and 2010) where her teams have advanced to the Final Four once (2006) and the quarterfinals twice (2002, 2009). The Irish have participated in all four BIG EAST Tournaments to date, beginning in 2007 and they recorded their first BIG EAST title in 2009 with wins over Syracuse (16-10) and Georgetown (12-10). A 1983 Ohio University graduate, Coyne was 23-5 in two seasons at Denison (1988-89), 91-21 in seven years at Roanoke (1990-96) and 137-89 in this, her 15th season at Notre Dame. The Pittsburgh, Pa., native led Denison (1988) and Roanoke (1990, 1991, 1992, 1994, 1996) to the NCAA Division III tournament during stops at those schools. Coyne also has coached on the international level as the head coach for the Canadian women’s lacrosse national team from 1999-2005. In June of 2005, she led Team Canada to a fourth-place finish at the 2005 World Cup, her second, fourth-place finish (2001) as Canada’s field boss. As a head coach, she is 2-10 all-time against Northwestern.
THE CAPTAINS: Two members of the 2011 Notre Dame women’s lacrosse team will serve as captains this season. Senior midfielder Shaylyn Blaney will be joined by senior defender Jackie Doherty (Ellicott City, Md.). Blaney served as one of the team’s captains in 2010 while this is the first season for Doherty. Blaney is a two-time second team IWLCA All-American and leads the Irish offense. Doherty guides the defense and was selected as a first team IWLCA All-American in her junior year.
PRESEASON HONORS: Three members of the Notre Dame women’s lacrosse team were selected by the BIG EAST coaches as members of the 2011 preseason all-BIG EAST team. Leading the group is Shaylyn Blaney who is a three-time all-BIG EAST selection (first team twice and second team once) in her career. She is joined by senior defender Jackie Doherty who was a first team choice last season. Joing those two is midfielder Kailene Abt who was a second team all-BIG EAST selection last season.
FAST START: Sophomore midfielder Jenny Granger got her second season off to a fast start in the win at California. Granger scored a career-high four goals and added two assists for as career-best, six-point game. She followed that with a two-goal effort in the 13-12 loss to Stanford. In two games, Granger leads Notre Dame in scoring with six goals and two assists for eight points. As a freshman in 2010, Granger played in 16 games and had 12 goals and three assists for 15 points.
STREAKY IRISH: During the 2010 season two Notre Dame players – Maggie Tamasitis and Gina Scioscia `10 scored points in all 18 games. Scioscia finished her career with the second longest scoring streak in the program’s history – 37 games. Tamasitis will be joined by three others carrying streaks over from last season. Nine players have scored points in each of the first two games this season.
Maggie Tamasitis - 20 games (21g, 31a, 52 pts)Kailene Abt - 12 games (17g, 6a, 23 pts)Jenny Granger - 5 games (11g, 4a, 15 pts.)Ansley Stewart - 3 games (4g, 2a, 6 pts)Kaitlin Keena - 3 games (4g, 3a, 7 pts)Shaylyn Blaney - 2 games (2g, 3a, 5 pts)Kaitlyn Brosco - 2 games (4g, 1a, 5 pts)Betsy Mastropieri - 2 games (3g, 0a, 3 pts)Emily Conner - 2 games (2g, 0a, 2 pts)
ROAD WARRIORS: With the split versus California and Stanford, Notre Dame is 1-1 this season on the road. A year ago, the Irish were 6-4 away from South Bend and have now had three consecutive seasons of at least six wins on the road. Since the 2008 season, Notre Dame is 19-11 (.633) away from home.
FAST STARTER: Freshman midfielder Kaitlyn Brosco (Shoreham, N.Y.) has gotten her career off to a fast start as she has scored four goals with one assist for five points in her first two collegiate games at Notre Dame.
HERE WE GO AGAIN?: During the 2010 season, Notre Dame saw 11 of its 18 games decided by two goals or less and saw it happen again in the 13-12 loss at Stanford on Feb. 13. In those games, the Irish had four overtime contests, eight games decided by one goal and 11 decided by two goals or less. In overtime, the Irish were 2-2. They were 5-3 in one goal games and 7-4 in games decided by two or less. In the BIG EAST Tournament, the Irish dropped a 12-11, four overtime game to Syracuse in the semifinals. That game was decided after 72:58, the longest game in Notre Dame history and the longest in the history of the BIG EAST Tournament.
RUNNING THE SHOW: With the graduation of attack standout Gina Scioscia `10, look for junior Maggie Tamasitis to run the Irish offense in 2011. Tamasitis finished second on the Irish in scoring last season with career highs in goals (18), assists (26) and points (44). She got her 2011 season off to a fast start with three goals and five assists in two games in California. Tamasitis has moved into eighth on the all-time Notre Dame assist list with 51 in her first two-plus seasons with the Irish.
SPEAKING OF ASSISTS: Senior Shaylyn Blaney (Stony Brook, N.Y.) is known for putting the ball in the net as she has 129 goals to her credit prior to the game with Northwestern and ranks fifth on that all-time list. In the win at California, Blaney turned into the set-up person as she had a career-high three assists in the victory to go along with a goal for a four-point game. As a junior Blaney had three assists all season and for her career, she now has 19.
FIRST TIMERS: Several Notre Dame players scored their first career goals in the games played in California last weekend. Leading the way was freshman Kaitlyn Brosco who had four in the two games. Joining Brosco were two sophomores who scored their first career goals. That group included midfielder McKenzie Brown (Greenwood Village, Colo.) who scored versus California and defender Emily Conner (Alexandria, Va.) who had one goal in each game of the trip. Seeing their first career action on the weekend were freshmen Molly Shawhan (Fulton, Md.) and Margaret Smith (Westminster, Md.) plus sophomores Adele Bruggeman (Cincinnati, Ohio) and Michelle Tremblay (Tonka Bay, Minn.). Brown and Tremblay sat out the 2010 season due to injuries. Bruggeman is in her first season at Notre Dame as a goaltender. She played the final 17 seconds of the game against Stanford.
NEW FACES: Head coach Tracy Coyne has two new assistant coaches this season as they replace Merideth Simon `04, who is now an assistant at Cal and Kateri Linville, who was an assistant with the Irish for five seasons. Linville is now the head coach at her alma mater – the University of Delaware. Replacing them are former Irish All-American Crysti Foote `06 and Nick Williams, a former standout lacrosse and football player at Towson. Foote, who helped lead Notre Dame to its only appearance in an NCAA women’s lacrosse Final Four joined Coyne’s staff in July after spending last season working on her Masters Degree at Long Island University. She has been an assistant coach at Drew University and Columbia since graduating. A member of Canada’s national team and a veteran of two World Cups (`05, `09), Foote was a two-time All-American and a Tewaaraton Trophy finalist in 2006. She owned virtually every offensive record for the Irish upon her graduation. Williams also joined the staff in July after one season as an assistant coach at Towson. A two-sport athlete at Towson, Williams was a four-year member of the lacrosse and football teams. In lacrosse, Williams helped the Tigers to a pair of CAA titles and in football is the program’s fifth leading rusher. He will work with the Irish defense and the goalkeepers while Foote works with the attack.
MAKING THE STOPS: Freshman goaltender Ellie Hilling played all but 2:19 minutes last season as she went 11-7 on the year with a 9.69 goals-against average and a .421 save percentage. Included in her season were a shutout versus Villanova (16-0, on April 9) and a 98:33 minute scoreless streak from April 5 to April 11. Her 9.69 goals-against average was the fourth-lowest, single-season mark at Notre Dame.
CAREER BEST EFFORT: Irish goaltender Ellie Hilling made a career-high 13 saves in the 20-6 win at California on Feb. 11. The 5-2 goalkeeper had two games as a freshmen where she made 12 saves. She followed that with an eight-save game versus Stanford and has already made 21 saves this season for a .525 save percentage.
NEW KIDS: Head coach Tracy Coyne’s eight-member freshman class was ranked as the fourth-best freshman class in the nation by Inside Lacrosse in September. Three members of the class were ranked among the top 25 freshmen in the country – midfielders Kaitlyn Brosco, Margaret Smith and Grace Dooley (Chicago, Ill.) with a fourth midfielder, Molly Shawhan named to the magazine’s “Watch List,” that listed 40 other top women’s lacrosse players who will play their first Division I season this spring. Ranked ahead of the Irish in the team rankings were Georgetown, North Carolina and Maryland while Northwestern, Syracuse, Virginia, Duke, Penn State and Johns Hopkins rounded out the top 10. Brosco was listed as the number three freshman, Smith, seventh and Dooley, 23rd overall.
THREE IN A ROW: Notre Dame has been to the NCAA Tournament six times (2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010) in its first 14 seasons of the women’s lacrosse program and three times in the last three years, a first for the program. With an 11-7 record last year, the Irish have now had five straight seasons with 10 or more wins, starting with the 2006 campaign. Since 2006, Notre Dame is 66-30 (.688).
SISTER ACT: The Notre Dame women’s lacrosse program has a long history of sisters playng for coach Tracy Coyne. This season, Coyne welcomes her ninth set of sisters to play at Notre Dame as junior midfielder Megan Sullivan (Winchester, Mass.) will be joined by her younger sister, Lauren, a freshman on this year’s roster. The Sullivan’s join eight other sister duos to play at Notre Dame – Maggie `10 and Lena Zentraf `07, twin sisters Heather and Lindsey Ferguson `08; Julie `08 and Crysti Foote `06; Lauren `09 and Meghan deMello `06; Kelly and Kristen Gaudreau `04; Carol `06 and Angela Dixon `03 and Annemarie `09 and Mary McGrath `06. The sisters who started the tradition are Amy `98 and Mara Grace `98. They played in 1997 and 1998, the first two years of the program. KEY CONTRIBUTOR: Junior midfielder Megan Sullivan became a key contributor to the Irish offense in 2010. Strong in transition, the speedy middie had career highs in goals (16), assists (6) and points (20) to finish sixth on the team in scoring. In the 11-9 win over Louisville on March 27, Sullivan had a career-high four goals versus the Cardinals.
DYNAMITE DEFENSE: Notre Dame’s veteran defensive corps turned in a strong season last year, limiting opponents to just 10.05 goals per game, the fewest per game since giving up 9.86 during the 2006 season. Seniors Jackie Doherty and Lauren Fenlon (Dayton, Md.) return to lead the defense along with junior Kate Newall (Middlesex, England) and sophomore Emily Conner (Alexandria, Va.). Look for freshman Margaret Smith (Westminster, Md.) to move in and play a key role in her freshman year on the Irish back line in front of goalkeeper Ellie Hilling.