March 13, 2010
Berkeley, Calif. – No one said it was going to be easy when the Notre Dame women’s lacrosse team hit the road for a Saturday afternoon game versus California at Memorial Stadium.
The Cal Bears gave the 11th-ranked Irish all they could handle, taking a first half lead and building it to a 10-7 advantage with just under 14 minutes left in the game. Notre Dame would score the final three goals of regulation to tie the game at 10-10 and send it to overtime.
In the two, three-minute extra periods, the Irish would get goals from Maggie Tamasitis, Jenny Granger, Ansley Stewart and Gina Scioscia to take a 14-12 win on the road. Stewart’s game winner came with 1:35 left in the game.
For the afternoon, Notre Dame was led by junior midfielders Kailene Abt (2g, 3a) and Shaylyn Blaney (four goals) with Scioscia, Stewart and Tamasitis each scoring twice and Jackie Doherty and Granger getting one goal each.
California was led by Allie Welsh who had a career day, scoring four goals and setting up four others in the hard-fought contest. Tara Arolla and Alyse Kennedy scored three goals each with Emily Abood and Lauren Johnson getting one goal each.
The win improves Notre Dame to 3-1 on the season while California closed out a four-game home stand with a 1-4 overall record. The Irish have now won all seven games in the all-time series with the Golden Bears.
Saturday’s game looked like the Irish would have their way with Cal as they took a 2-0 lead just 33 seconds into the game on goals by Blaney and Tamasitis at 29:38 and 29:27.
The Bears battled back to tie the score at 2-2 with Arolla and Welsh getting their first of the day. Welsh’s goal came on a free-position shot.
Junior midfielder Kaitlin Keena picked up the first of two assists at 22:58 when she set up Stewart in front of Cal goalkeeper Allie Shopshire with Stewart converting on her first shot of the game for a 3-2 Irish lead.
It would take over eight minutes for either team to score but Cal would tie the game at 14:30 and proceed to score four straight goals to lead 6-3 with 9:03 left in the first half as Kennedy scored twice and Arolla and Welsh once for the Bears first three-goal lead of the game.
Doherty got her goal via a free-position shot with 8:15 left in the half and Abt cut the lead to 6-5 off a Keena assist with 53 seconds left in the half.
Cal scored the opening goal of the second half just 1:18 in as Arolla beat Irish freshman goalkeeper Ellie Hilling to make it 7-5.
Goals by Scioscia (25:54) and Blaney (her second at 25:35) just 19 seconds apart tied the game at 7-7 and the Irish offense looked like it was ready to come to life.
The Bears had an answer for that Irish salvo, scoring twice in a 43-second span with Kennedy setting up Johnson with 17:48 left in the game and Welsh getting her third at 17:05 to make it 9-7. Welsh then set up Kennedy for her third of the game at 13:52 and California had a 10-7 lead with the clock running down on Notre Dame.
That’s when Abt and Blaney stepped up to rally the Irish. Abt scored her second of the game with 9:52 remaining on the clock and then set up Blaney’s third of the game with 7:24 left to make it 10-9. Twenty seconds later at 7:04, Notre Dame would tie the game at 10-10 when Blaney got her fourth of the afternoon, converting a feed from Tamasitis.
The score would remained tied for the rest of regulation as the Irish had a 29-18 shot advantage in the first 60 minutes of play.
In the first three-minute overtime, the Irish would strike first just 1:21 into the stanza as Abt set Tamasitis up in front to make it 11-10. Twenty-one seconds later, Granger made it 12-10 with her only goal of the afternoon.
Cal came back though. Abood scored with 35 seconds left in the first overtime to cut the lead to 12-11. Welsh then closed out her eight-point afternoon with her fourth goal of the game 1:07 into the second overtime for a 12-12 game.
Abt would then pick up her third assist of the game when she set up Stewart who whipped a shot past Shropshire with 1:34 left in the game for the eventual game winner and the 13-12 lead. Scioscia closed the scoring when she broke through the defense and scored with four seconds left for the 14-12 road victory.
The Irish finished the game with 33 shots on goal while California had 21 on the afternoon. Hilling finished with five saves in goal for Notre Dame while Shropshire had 11 for the Bears.
Notre Dame returns to action next weekend when the Irish head to the East coast to face the ninth-ranked Boston University Terriers on Sat., March 20 at 12:00 noon at BU’s Nickerson Field.
GAME SUMMARY 1 2 OT OT - F#11 Notre Dame (3-1) 5 5 2 2 - 14California (1-4) 6 4 1 1 - 12
ScoringFirst Half:Time Team Score Goal Assist29:38 ND 1-0 Shaylyn Blaney29:27 ND 2-0 Maggie Tamasitis Megan Sullivan26:52 CAL 2-1 Tara Arolla25:58 CAL 2-2 Allie Welsh Free-position shot22:58 ND 3-2 Ansley Stewart Kaitlin Keena14:30 CAL 3-3 Alyse Kennedy Free-position shot10:13 CAL 3-4 Allie Welsh (2) Lauren Johnson 9:47 CAL 3-5 Alyse Kennedy (2) 9:03 CAL 3-6 Tara Arolla (2) Allie Welsh 8:15 ND 4-6 Jackie Doherty Free-position shot 0:33 ND 5-6 Kailene Abt Kaitlin Keena (2)
Second HalfTime Team Score Goal Assist28:42 CAL 5-7 Tara Arolla (3) Allie Welsh25:54 ND 6-7 Gina Scioscia25:35 ND 7-7 Shaylyn Blaney (2)17:48 CAL 7-8 Lauren Johnson Alyse Kennedy17:05 CAL 7-9 Allie Welsh (3)13:52 CAL 7-10 Alyse Kennedy (3) Allie Welsh 9:52 ND 8-10 Kailene Abt (2) 7:24 ND 9-10 Shaylyn Blaney (3) Kailene Abt 7:04 ND 10-10 Shaylyn Blaney (4) Maggie Tamasitis
First OvertimeTime Team Score Goal Assist2:39 ND 11-10 Maggie Tamasitis (2) Kailene Abt (2)2:18 ND 12-10 Jenny Granger0:35 CAL 12-11 Emily Abood Allie Welsh
Second OvertimeTime Team Score Goal Assist1:53 CAL 12-12 Allie Welsh (4)1:34 ND 13-12 Ansley Stewart (2) Kailene Abt (3)0:04 ND 14-12 Gina Scioscia (2)
Goalkeepers:Notre Dame: Ellie Hilling - 66:00 min; 12 goals against, 5 savesCalifornia: Allie Shropshire - 66:00 min; 14 goals against, 11 saves
Total Shots: Notre Dame: 33; California: 21Ground Balls: Notre Dame: 32; California: 30Draw Controls: Notre Dame: 15; California: 15Caused Turnovers: Notre Dame: 11; California: 3