March 29, 2008
Storrs, Conn. – The Notre Dame women’s lacrosse team returned to BIG EAST action on Saturday afternoon and wasted little time in disposing of the Connecticut Huskies by an 18-11 score.
Junior Jillian Byers paced the Irish attack with seven goals and one assist in the game while Caitlin McKinney and Shaylyn Blaney had three goals each, Gina Scioscia scored twice and Alicia Billings, Kaitlin Keena and Kailene Abt each scored once in the road win. Notre Dame scored the first six goals of the game and led 14-4 at halftime before being outscored 7-4 in the second half.
McKinney and Scioscia each had three assists for six and five-point afternoons each.
The Huskies were led offensively by Robyn Pastuch who had three goals on the day. Whitney Michele, Laura Eichert and Katy Ryan each scored twice while Katie Kasch and Kim McGinty had one goal each.
The win improves 13th-ranked Notre Dame to 8-3 on the year overall and 2-1 in BIG EAST conference action. Connecticut falls to 0-9 on the year and 0-3 in conference action.
It would take the Irish over four minutes to get on the scoreboard in the first half but when they finally did they scored often.
Blaney got her first of three in the game at 25:51 to open the scoring with Scioscia picking up the first of her three assists in the game. The sophomore from Summit, N.J., actually would assist on three of Notre Dame’s first four goals in the game.
Over the next 4:31, the Irish would score five times for the 6-0 lead at 20:59. Byers scored three of her six first-half goals in the run, getting the first of the contest just 15 seconds (25:36) after Blaney’s opening goal for a 2-0 lead. That was followed by Billings’lone goal, one by Byers, one by Blaney and a third by Byers for the 6-0 lead.
Pastuch would break up that run at 20:23 to make it 6-1. Byers, with two, and McKinney one offset a goal by McGinty for a 9-2 lead with 13:50 left in the first half.
Following a Connecticut goal by Eichert at 12:10, Scioscia took her turn to score as she picked up unassisted goals at 9:18 and 8:27 for her five-point first half and gave the Irish an 11-3 lead. Michele scored her first goal at 6:06 to cut the lead to 11-4, but Notre Dame got three more goals from Abt, McKinney and Byers to end the first half scoring spree and give the Irish the 14-4 lead at halftime.
Notre Dame would score three of the first four goals in the second half to make it a 17-5 game with 20:49 left on the clock. McKinney got her third of the day at 27:46 of the second stanza only to see Michele answer back at 24:32. Byers closed out her afternoon with goal seven for the day at 21:43 and Keena got into the act at 20:49.
Goals by Ryan (free-position) and Kasch cut the Irish lead to 10 goals at 17-7. Blaney’s third of the day, her third, at 10:38, closed out the Notre Dame scoring and made it 18-7.
At that point of the game, head coach Tracy Coyne replaced starter Erin Goodman with Amy Winik in goal, giving the sophomore goalkeeper her second career action.
The Huskies would score the final four goals of the game with Eichert getting one, Pastuch a pair and Ryan her second for the final score of 18-11.
Notre Dame continues its five-game road swing on Thursday, April 3, when the Irish travel to Durham, N.C., to face the Duke Blue Devils. That game begins at 4:00 p.m.
GAME SUMMARY 1 2 - F#13/#13 Notre Dame (8-3/2-1 in BE) 14 4 - 18Connecticut (0-9/0-3 in BE) 4 7 - 11
Scoring SummaryFirst HalfTime Team Score Goal Assist25:51 ND 1-0 Shaylyn Blaney Gina Scioscia24:35 ND 2-0 Jillian Byers23:13 ND 3-0 Alicia Billings Gina Scioscia22:32 ND 4-0 Jillian Byers Gina Scioscia22:05 ND 5-0 Shaylyn Blaney Caitlin McKinney20:59 ND 6-0 Jillian Byers20:23 UC 6-1 Robyn Pastuch19:21 ND 7-1 Jillian Byers Shaylyn Blaney18:44 UC 7-2 Kim McGinty Robyn Pastuch17:33 ND 8-2 Caitlin McKinney13:50 ND 9-2 Jillian Byers Caitlin McKinney12:10 UC 9-3 Laura Eichert Whitney Michele 9:18 ND 10-3 Gina Scioscia 8:27 ND 11-3 Gina Scioscia 6:06 UC 11-4 Whitney Michele Laura Eichert 5:29 ND 12-4 Kailene Abt Caitlin McKinney 4:55 ND 13-4 Caitlin McKinney Jillian Byers 4:29 ND 14-4 Jillian Byers Maggie Zentgraf
Second HalfTime Team Score Goal Assist27:46 ND 15-4 Caitlin McKinney24:32 UC 15-5 Whitney Michele21:43 ND 16-5 Jillian Byers20:49 ND 17-5 Kaitlin Keena14:50 UC 17-6 Katy Ryan Free-position shot12:38 UC 17-7 Katie Kasch10:38 ND 18-7 Shaylyn Blaney 6:22 UC 18-8 Laura Eichert 2:03 UC 18-9 Robyn Pastuch :59 UC 18-10 Robyn Pastuch Whitney Michele :20 UC 18-11 Katy Ryan
Goalkeepers:Notre Dame: Erin Goodman, 49:22 min., 7 GA, 7 saves Amy Winik, 10:38 min., 4 GA, 0 savesConnecticut Jenna Moulton, 60:00 min., 18 GA, 11 saves
Shots: ND: 34; UCONN: 21Ground Balls: ND: 12; UCONN: 15Caused Turnovers: ND: 1; UCONN: 7Draw Controls: ND: 15; UCONN: 13