March 21, 2007
Notre Dame, Ind. –
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• The Game: #12/#12 Notre Dame (5-2/0-1) vs. Ohio State (3-1)
• Date/Time/Site: Wed., March 21, 2007 • 7:45 p.m. • Loftus Center • Notre Dame, Ind..
• The Game: #12/#12 Notre Dame (5-2/0-1) at Loyola (Md.) (1-4/0-1)
• Date/Time/Site: Sunday., March 25, 2007 • 1:00 p.m. • Geppi-Aikens Field • Baltimore, Md.
HOME AGAIN: The Notre Dame women’s lacrosse team returns home for the first time since March 1 when the Irish play host to the Ohio State Buckeyes on Wednesday, March 21. The game will be played at the Loftus Sports Center and has a 7:45 p.m. start time. The original 4:00 p.m. start was changed due to the game moving indoors due to the threat of bad weather. The Irish return home after going 3-1 on the road with wins over Cornell (13-9), Canisius (18-8) and Yale (9-7), before dropping a 16-13 decision at Syracuse in the BIG EAST opener on Sunday. The Irish are now 5-2 on the year and 0-1 in BIG EAST play. Ohio State brings a 3-1 record with the lone loss coming in American Lacrosse Conferenec play to Johns Hopkins (15-14). Notre Dame saw the loss to Syracuse affect their national ranking as the Irish fell to 12th in both the IWLCA coaches’ poll and the Inside Lacrosse.com polls. Notre Dame will return to the road this weekend when the Irish travel to Baltimore, Md., for the second BIG EAST game of the season when they face Loyola (Md.) in a 1:00 p.m. game. The Greyhounds open the week with a 1-4 record and are 0-1 in conference play. They travel to Princeton on Wednesday afternoon to face the Tigers before facing the Irish on Sunday.
IRISH AND THE BUCKEYES: The Irish and Buckeyes will meet for the 12th time in the all-time series on Wednesday, March 21 at the Loftus Center. Ohio State has a 6-5 record in the first 11 meetings. At Notre Dame, the Irish are 2-4 against the Buckeyes while they have a 3-2 edge in games played in Columbus, Ohio. Last season, the two teams met in Columbus on April 5 with Notre Dame taking a 13-6 win. The last time the two teams played at Notre Dame was on May 7, 2005 with the Buckeyes taking a 14-10 win in the season finale at Moose Krause Stadium.
IRISH AND GREYHOUNDS: Notre Dame travels to Baltimore, Md., on Sunday, March 25 to meet the Loyola (Md.) Greyhounds at 1:00 p.m. Loyola is an associate member of the BIG EAST so the game will count in the league standings. The two teams met for the first time in the 2006 season, playing in Wellington, Fla., in CSTV’s Spring Fling on March 16, 2006. The Irish won that game by a 13-9 score. This weekend’s game will be Notre Dame’s first-ever visit to Loyola.
HEAD COACH Tracy Coyne: Tracy Coyne is in her 11th season at Notre Dame and 20th year in collegiate lacrosse. Coyne brings a 206-92 (.691) career record into the week against Ohio State and Loyola (Md.) and is 92-66 (.584) in her career. The 1983 graduate of Ohio University recorded her 200th career win last season in the first round of the NCAA tournament with a 16-8 victory against Cornell. She has guided Notre Dame to three NCAA tournament appearances (2002, 2004, 2006), including last year’s first-ever trip to the NCAA finals. In her first 19 years of coaching, Coyne was 23-5 in two seasons at Denison (1988-89), 91-21 in seven years at Roanoke (1990-96) and 87-64 in 10 seasons 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. Coyne is 5-6 all-time against Ohio State and 1-0 versus Loyola.
SYRACUSE RECAP: The Irish made their third trip to Western New York in the last three weeks and after winning at Cornell and Canisius, the results weren’t as happy this time. Syracuse scored the last four goals of the game over the final 11:38 to wipe out a 13-12 Irish lead and hand Notre Dame its’ first BIG EAST loss of the season, 16-13, at the Carrier Dome. Junior Caitlin McKinney (Lafayette Hill, Pa.) led Notre Dame with four goals and two assists on the afternoon. Jillian Byers (So., Northport, N.Y.) and Meghan Murphy (Sr., Centennial, Colo.) added three goals each. Kaki Orr (Sr., Darien, Conn.) and Jane Stoeckert (So., Mendham, N.J.) rounded out the scoring with two goals each. Syracuse was led offensively by Ashley Pike who scored five times and Bridget Looney who added four in the Orange victory. Halley Quillinan added three goals while Megan Mosenson scored twice and Katie Rowan and Jill DePetris added one goal each in the win. The victory improved the Orange to 4-3 overall and 1-1 in the BIG EAST while the Irish go to 5-2 for the season and 0-1 in conference play. The Irish were out shot on the afternoon by a 37-24 margin. Erin Goodman (Cortlandt Manor, N.Y.) made eight saves for Notre Dame while Amber Pardee-Hill had six stops in the Syracuse goal.
NOTRE DAME-YALE RECAP: The Notre Dame women’s lacrosse team spent Spring Break in Florida, participating in CSTV’s Spring Fling for the second year in a row. Again the Irish played strong defense and got outstanding goalkeeping from sophomore Erin Goodman as they handed Yale a 9-7 loss at Village Parks Field in front of a capacity crowd. The Irish were led offensively by Caitlin McKinney who scored three goals with one assists. Jillian Byers and Meghan Murphy added two goals to pace the Irish attack. Jane Stoeckert and Lena Zentgraf had single goals on the night. The victory gives Notre Dame a three-game winning streak and improves the Irish to 5-1 overall. Yale falls to 4-2 in the loss.
SCHEDULE CHANGE: Notre Dame will face Duquesne University on Sunday, April 1 in a 1:00 p.m. game at Moose Krause Stadium. This contest replaces the Ohio University game that was cancelled due to the school ending the program and the players deciding not to play. Duquesne and Ohio were to play on April 1.
FAST START: Junior attack player Caitlin McKinney added seven goals and three assists to her totals in two games last week. McKinney scored three times in the 9-7 win over Yale and then added her fourth game of the year with six or more points as she had four goals and two assists in the 16-13 loss at Syracuse. The speedster leads Notre Dame in scoring with 23 goals and 10 assists for 33 points. She started the week ranked second in the BIG EAST in scoring behind Connecticut’s Shannon Burke who had 39 points (17g, 22a) in her first six games.
MOVER AND SHAKER: The ink wasn’t even dry on the 2007 Notre Dame women’s lacrosse media guide and already sophomore Jillian Byers has broken a record. With 21 goals and four assists through the first five games, Byers became the quickest player in Irish history to reach 100 points in her career with 75 goals and 28 assists for 103 points in her first 24 games. She breaks the record set last season by Caitlin McKinney who scored 100 points in her first 33 games. Byers has now played in 26 games and has 80 goals and 28 assists for 108 career points.
MURPHY MADNESS: Senior Meghan Murphy (Centennial, Colo.) found her offensive touch on the road as she had seven goals and four assists for 11 points in her last four games. Murphy has five goals in the last two games, getting two in the win versus Yale and three in the loss to Syracuse. On the year, Murphy has nine goals and six assists for 15 points in the first seven games. As a junior, she had career highs with 14 goals and nine assists for 23 points so she is on pace to reach those totals this season.
IRISH STREAKS: Six Notre Dame players bring point streaks into the game with Ohio State. They are:
Caitlin McKinney -29-game streak (73-33-106)Jillian Byers - 7 games (26-4-30)Lena Zentgraf - 7 games (7-8-15)Meghan Murphy - 5 games (7-5-12)Jane Stoeckert - 5 games (5-4-9)Kaki Orr - 3 games (4-0-4)
COMING ON: Sophomore midfielder Jane Stoeckert (Mendham, N.J.) has started to become more involved in the Notre Dame offense. She has scored a goal and an assist in each of Notre Dame’s last four games and brings a five-game point streak into the game with Ohio State. Stoeckert had 11 goals and nine assists for 20 points last season. In seven games this year, she has five goals and four assists for nine points.
GOOD FOR GAUDREAU: After seeing action in just two games as a freshman, sophomore attacker Kelly Gaudreau (Annapolis, Md.) wasted little time getting on the scoreboard in her first action of 2007. She scored twice in the second half for her first goal and first two-goal game of her career in the same contest.
MAKING THE STOPS: Sophomore goaltender Erin Goodman had back-to-back 14-save games in wins over Cornell (13-9) and Yale (9-7). In her first seven career starts, Goodman is now 5-2 with a 10.77 goals-against average and a .462 save percentage. Prior to the 16-13 loss at Syracuse, she won three straight games versus Canisius, Cornell and Yale with an 8.00 goals-against average and a sparkling .607 save percentage (37 saves on 61 shots). Through seven games, Goodman is averaging 9.14 saves per game for the Irish.
TEWAARATON WATCH LIST: Sophomore Jillian Byers and junior Caitlin McKinney have been named to the 2007 Tewaaraton “Watch List.” They are among 34 Division I players, selected by a panel of coaches from around the country, eligible for women’s collegiate lacrosse’s top player award. The current duo join Crysti Foote `06, Meredith Simon `04 and Danielle Shearer `03 as Irish players previously named to the “Watch List.” Shearer was the fist player named to the list, Simon was the first selected as a nominee for the award and Foote was the first to be named a finalist.
HOME RECORD: Notre Dame saw its 10-game home-winning streak snapped on March 1 when Northwestern handed the Irish an 18-10 loss at the Loftus Center. The streak included a 9-0 mark in 2006, the best home record the Irish have ever had.
CLUTCH PERFORMER: Junior Caitlin McKinney had her fourth game of the season with six or more points when she scored four times and added a pair of assists in the 16-13 loss to Syracuse. She leads the Irish with 23 goals and 10 assists for 33 points. Three of her goals have been game winners and they always seem to come in crucial situations. Despite being held to two goals in the win over James Madison on Feb. 18, both came at crucial times in the game. Trailing 7-6 with time running out in regulation, McKinney scored with 19 seconds left to tie the game at 7-7 and send the game to overtime. Her second goal came in the second overtime. With Notre Dame trailing 9-8, McKinney tied the game with nine seconds left to make it 9-9 and send the game to sudden death.
FRESHMAN FIRSTS: Notre Dame freshman Gina Scioscia (Summit, N.J.) recorded the first goal, first assist and first multiple-point game of her career in the 18-10 loss to Northwestern. She followed up with an assist in the 13-9 win over Cornell and had two goals and an assist against Canisius. Scioscia has three goals and three assists in the first seven games of her Irish career.
OVERTIME NUMBERS: The Irish seem to play their share of overtime and one-goal games. The first two games this season went to extra time. On Feb. 18 at James Madison, the team’s played 68:44 before Jillian Byers scored in sudden victory of the Irish. On Feb. 24, Notre Dame and Stanford played overtime for the second year in a row. This time, Caitlin McKinney scored with seven seconds left for the win. In 2006, the Irish were 1-1 in two sudden-victory games, losing at Georgetown (11-10) after winning a 12-11 game at Stanford. Notre Dame has now played 13 overtime games in their 11 seasons and are 6-7 in thos games. Over the last two seasons, the Irish are 6-2 in one goal games and 13-16 in the program’s history.
LEAN ON LENA: Senior midfielder Lena Zentgraf equalled a career high with three goals in the 13-9 win at Cornell on March 4. In seven games this season, she is tied for third in scoring with seven goals and eight assists for 15 points.Her previous career best came in 2005 when she had 11 goals and eight assist for 19 points. She is second on the team with 14 draw controls and tied for second with 13 ground balls and leads the team with 10 caused turnovers.
CONTROLLING THE DRAW: The Irish tied a school record by winning 20 draws in the 13-9 win at Cornell on March 4. The 20 draws did set a school mark for draw controls in an away game. The previous mark of 20 was set versus Virginia Tech on March 26, 2004. The previous road mark was 19 and was done three times. Kaki Orr and Lena Zentgraf each had five in the game while Jillian Byers had four to lead the team. Individually, Orr is Notre Dame’s top player on the draw as she has 24 controls in the first seven games this season. As a team, the Irish have 104 draw controls and have lost 77 in the first seven games of the season.
BIG EAST SCHOLARSHIP: Senior Meghan Murphy along with Irish swimmer Ted Brown, has been selected as one of Notre Dame’s two BIG EAST post-graduate scholarship winners. The $2,000 scholarship goes toward post-graduate studies. Murphy has already been accepted to medical school. She was the women’s lacrosse team’s 2006 Rockne Scholar-Athlete and was also selected to the 2006 IWLCA Academic honor roll with a 3.74 grade-point average in her double major in anthropology and pre-professional studies. She was a third team ESPN The Magazine/CoSida Academic All-American on the spring at-large team in 2006. Murphy was also selected as one of Notre Dame’s Christopher Zorich Award winners for her involvement in community service work in the Notre Dame community and her home town of Denver, Colo.DRAWING IT UP: Senior midfielder Kaki Orr (Darien, Conn.) set a Notre Dame single-game record with nine draw controls in the win over Vanderbilt on May 7 of 2006. She was second on the team with 41 draw controls in 2006, the second-best single-season total at Notre Dame. In seven games this season, she leads the team with 24 draw controls, almost four per game and for her career now has 81. Orr has also been finding the back of the net as she has four goals in her last three games.
PRESEASON ALL-AMERICANS: Three members of the 2007 Notre Dame women’s lacrosse team have been selected to the Inside Lacrosse Magazine preseason All-American team. Attack standouts Jillian Byers and Caitlin McKinney have been selected to the preseason second team while defender Meaghan Fitzpatrick (Sr., Farmingdale, N.Y.) was a third team selection. Byers and McKinney were both selected as third team All-Americans at the end of the 2006 season by Inside Lacrosse.
PRESEASON HONORS: Three members of the Notre Dame women’s lacrosse team have been selected to the preseason all-BIG EAST team. Senior defender Meaghan Fitzpatrick, junior midfielder/attack Caitlin McKinney and sophomore attack Jillian Byers were named to the 2007 team with McKinney and Byers being unanimous selections. Fitzpatrick, a 2006 second team all-BIG EAST selection, is a three-year starter on defense who started all 19 games last