March 30, 2007
Notre Dame, Ind. – Sophomore attack standout Jillian Byers (Northport, N.Y.) scored four goals and added one assist and fellow sophomores Jane Stoeckert (Mendham, N.J.) and Alicia Billings (Potomac, Md.) scored a pair of goals each as Notre Dame rallied for a 12-11 win over the University of Connecticut on Friday night at Moose Krause Stadium.
Whitney Michele and Janet Williams scored three goals each and BIG EAST leading scorer Shannon Burke had two goals as the Huskies led 6-5 at halftime and 8-7 with 15:34 left in the game. Caitlin McKinney (Jr. Lafayette Hill, Pa.), Meghan Murphy (Sr., Centennial, Colo.), Kaki Orr (Sr., Darien, Conn.) and Mary Carpenter (Jr., Rochester, N.Y.) had single goals for the Irish.
The one-goal win was the third of the season for 11th-ranked Notre Dame and improved the Irish record to 8-2 overall and 2-1 in BIG EAST action. Nineteenth-ranked Connecticut falls to 5-3 overall and is 0-2 in conference play. Both teams will play again on Sunday as the Irish play host to Duquesne on Sunday, April 1 at 1:00 p.m. while Connecticut travels to Northwestern.
This game pitted three of the BIG EAST’s top scorers in Notre Dame’s Jillian Byers and Caitlin McKinney and Connecticut’s Shannon Burke. Notre Dame’s duo had five goals and three assists in the game while Burke scored two for the Huskies and assisted on two others.
Stoeckert staked the Irish to a 2-0 lead as she barged and charged her way to a pair of goals in the first six minutes. Her first drive on UConn goalkeeper Jenna Moulton resulted in a free-position goal 4:15 into the game and she made it 2-0 when she scored from in front on Moulton at 5:46 for her ninth and 10th goals of the season.
The two teams traded the next four goals with Michele and Ryan scoring for the Huskies and Byers getting two goals, one off a free-position shot for a 4-2 Irish lead at 11:02 of the half.
From there, Connecticut went on a 4-0 run over the next 8:30 minutes to take a 6-4 lead. Michele made it a one-goal lead at 15:45 before Williams scored twice (19:15 and 21:39) to take a 5-4 lead. Burke’s first goal of the night gave UConn a two-goal lead at 6-4.
The Irish got the final goal of the half at 25:52 when McKinney picked up her first point (three-point game) of the night, setting up Byers for her third goal of the half to cut the UConn lead to 6-5 at halftime.
The score would go back-and-forth in the second half with each team controlling the lead twice in the half. Billings scored her first of the night just 7:49 into the half to tie the game at 7-7. Michele got her third of the game at 10:05 to give UConn a 7-6 lead and Billings tied things at 11:55 when she converted a Lena Zentgraf pass to make it 7-7.
Connecticut took their final lead of the night at 14:16 when Burke scored her third goal of the night to give the Huskies an 8-7 lead.
Notre Dame forged ahead by scoring four of five goals in a nine-minute span midway through the second half. Murphy set up Carpenter at 14:48 to tie the game at 8-8 and Byers fourth goal of the night at 16:01 gave the Irish the lead at 9-8. Williams scored her third of the night for Connecticut at 17:27 to tie the game at 9-9.
The Irish would go in front for good at 18:44 when Orr scored her only goal of the night for a 10-9 Notre Dame lead. McKinney scored her only goal at 23:48 to give the Irish a two-goal lead at 11-9.
Connecticut wasn’t done though as Kristin Link scored on a free-position shot at 26:31. Murphy scored the game winner with a nice run through the middle at 27:56 for a 12-10 Notre Dame lead. Laura Trzasko cut the lead to 12-11, scoring with 37 seconds left but the Irish were able to control the final draw and run out the clock for the 12-11 victory.
On the night, the Irish out shot Connecticut by a 31-26 margin. Goalkeeper Erin Goodman (So., Cortlandt Park, N.Y.) made 11 saves in the game for Notre Dame while Moulton had eight saves for the Huskies.
Game Summary 1 2 - F#19 Connecticut (5-3/0-2) 6 5 - 11#12 Notre Dame (8-2/2-1) 5 7 - 12
First-Half ScoringTime Team Score Goal Assist 4:15 ND 1-0 * Jane Stoeckert Free-position shot 5:46 ND 2-0 Jane Stoeckert 6:49 UCONN 2-1 Whitney Michele 8:55 ND 3-1 Jillian Byers Meghan Murphy 9:46 UCONN 3-2 Katy Ryan11:02 ND 4-2 * Jillian Byers Free-position shot15:45 UCONN 4-3 Whitney Michele Shannon Burke19:15 UCONN 4-4 Janet Williams Robyn Pastuch21:39 UCONN 4-5 * Janet Williams Free-position shot24:15 UCONN 4-6 Shannon Burke25:52 ND 5-6 Jillian Byers Caitlin McKinney
Second-Half ScoringTime Team Score Goal Assist 7:49 ND 6-6 Alicia Billings Jillian Byers10:05 UCONN 6-7 Whitney Michele Kristin Link11:55 ND 7-7 Alicia Billings Lena Zentgraf14:16 UCONN 7-8 Shannon Burke14:48 ND 8-8 Mary Carpenter Meghan Murphy16:01 ND 9-8 Jillian Byers Caitlin McKinney17:27 UCONN 9-9 Janet Williams Whitney Michele18:44 ND 10-9 Kaki Orr Lena Zentgraf23:48 ND 11-9 Caitlin McKinney26:31 UCONN 11-10 * Kristin Link Free-position shot27:56 ND 12-10 Meghan Murphy Jane Stoeckert29:23 UCONN 12-11 Laura Trzasko Shannon Burke
* Free-position goal
GoalkeepersConnecticut - Jenna Moulton(60:00 min.; 12 goals, 8 saves)Notre Dame - Erin Goodman (60:00 min; 11 goals, 11 saves)
Shots: UCONN - 26; ND - 31Ground Balls: UCONN - 21; ND - 21Draw Controls: UCONN - 10; ND - 15Caused Turnovers: UCONN - 11; ND - 12