April 5, 2009
Louisville, Ky. – The Notre Dame women’s lacrosse team picked up its second win of the weekend, knocking off one of the BIG EAST’s newest teams, the University of Louisville by a 20-8 score at the U of L Lacrosse Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
Senior All-American candidate Jillian Byers (Northport, N.Y.) paced the Irish attack with a seven-point game, scoring five goals in the win. Gina Scioscia (Jr., Summit, N.J.), Maggie Tamasitis (Fr., Boyertown, Pa.) and Shaylyn Blaney (So., Stony Brook, N.Y.) chipped in three goals each with Ansley Stewart (So., Alexandria, Va.) and Kailene Abt (So., Huntington, N.Y.) adding two each. Kelly Driscoll (Fr., Andover, Mass.) and Meredith Locasto (So., Pittsburgh, Pa.) also scored single goals for Notre Dame.
Byers’ five-goal game gives her 50 goals on the season, making her the only player in the history of the Notre Dame women’s lacrosse program to score 50 or more goals in a season four times.
Emily Dashiell, Bergan Foley and Lianne Bobal scored two goals each for Louisville while Danielle Hale and Ruby Devine had one goal each.
The win improved the 10th-ranked Irish to 11-2 on the season and 4-1 in BIG EAST play. Louisville falls to 7-4 overall and 1-3 in conference action.
Notre Dame opened the scoring just 3:15 into the game when Byers converted a pass from Scioscia and then Scioscia, the junior playmaker scored on a free-position shot 29 seconds later to give the Irish a 2-0 lead.
Louisville cut the lead in half at 25:03 when Foley got her first goal of the game on a free-position shot to make it 2-1. In all the teams would take 15 free-position shots in the game with Notre Dame going 7-for-9 and the Cardinals, 3-for-6.
That would be as close as Louisville would get though as the Irish ran off six consecutive goals by five different players to build an 8-1 lead. Scoring in the run were Blaney, Scioscia with two, Byers, Abt and Tamasitis. Bobal would score twice for the Cardinals at 6:39 and 5:34 to cut the lead to 8-3 with Tamasitis getting her second goal of the game to close the half with Notre Dame leading, 9-3.
Louisville opened the second half with a pair of goals by Dashiell and Foley to make it 9-5 only to see the Irish go on a five-goal run over a 5:49 span. Blaney scored a pair just 1:15 apart at 22:19 and 21:04 and was followed by three consecutive free-position goals. Abt scored at 18:03 and Stewart scored back-to-back markers 17 seconds apart at 16:47 and 16:30 to make it 14-5.
Devine (15:20) and Hale (12:31) stopped the five-goal Notre Dame run to make it 14-7 only to see the Irish answer with a six-goal run in the final eight minutes of the game.
Byers scored her final three goals of the afternoon with Driscoll, Locasto and Tamasitis, capping the run. Dashiell scored the final goal of the game with 1:09 left for the Cardinals to make the final score 20-8.
Senior goalkeeper Erin Goodman (Cortlandt Manor, N.Y.) gave up six goals while making nine saves in 46:21. Amy Winik (Jr., Freehold, N.J.) played the final 13:39 for the Irish, making one save and surrendering two goals in the Notre Dame goal.
Jen Heup played 49:26 for Louisville, giving up 17 goals while making 11 saves. Kendra Burawski played 10:34, giving up three goals while making one save.
The Irish return to action on Saturday, April 11 when they travel to Syracuse, N.Y., to face the Syracuse Orange in a BIG EAST clash at the Carrier Dome, starting at 12:00 noon. CBS College Sports will televise the game live on Saturday.
IRISH NOTES
** Freshman Maggie Tamasitis has been the Irish super sub this season. In 13 games, all coming off the bench, the rookie midfield/attack player is sixth in scoring with 11 goals and 14 assists for 25 points. In her last two games she has five goals and three assists for eight points.
** With five goals on the day and 50 for the season, Jillian Byers now has 229 goals and 58 assists for 287 points. She has scored three or more goals in 11 of Notre Dame’s 13 games this season.
** The Irish are now 4-0 on the road, 6-2 at home and 1-0 at neutral sites this season.
** Since the start of the 2006 season, Notre Dame is now 49-19 (.721). The Irish have double-digit wins in four consecutive years, a first for the program.
GAME SUMMARY 1 2 - F#10/#10 Notre Dame (11-2/4-1) 9 11 - 20Louisville (7-4/1-3) 3 5 - 8
ScoringFirst Half:Time Team Score Goal Assist26:45 ND 1-0 Jillian Byers Gina Scioscia26:16 ND 2-0 Gina Scioscia Free-position shot25:03 UL 2-1 Bergan Foley Free-position shot23:08 ND 3-1 Shaylyn Blaney Free-position shot16:11 ND 4-1 Gina Scioscia (2) Jillian Byers14:55 ND 5-1 Jillian Byers (2)14:23 ND 6-1 Kailene Abt14:06 ND 7-1 Gina Scioscia (3) Free-position shot 9:46 ND 8-1 Maggie Tamasitis Free-position shot 6:39 UL 8-2 Lianne Bobal Free-position shot 5:34 UL 8-3 Lianne Bobal (2) 2:17 ND 9-3 Maggie Tamasitis (2) Jillian Byers (2)
Second HalfTime Team Score Goal Assist27:58 UL 9-4 Emily Dashiell24:23 UL 9-5 Bergan Foley (2) Free-position shot22:19 ND 10-5 Shaylyn Blaney (2)21:04 ND 11-5 Shaylyn Blaney (3)18:03 ND 12-5 Kailene Abt (2) Free-position shot16:47 ND 13-5 Ansley Stewart Free-position shot16:30 ND 14-5 Ansley Stewart (2) Free-position shot15:20 UL 14-6 Ruby Devine Katie Oliverio12:31 UL 14-7 Danielle Hale 7:56 ND 15-7 Jillian Byers (3) 6:10 ND 16-7 Jillian Byers (4) Kaitlin Keena 5:19 ND 17-7 Kelly Driscoll 3:58 ND 18-7 Meredith Locasto (3) Kaitlin Keena 2:29 ND 19-7 Maggie Tamasitis (3) 1:20 ND 20-7 Jillian Byers (5) Maggie Tamasitis 1:09 UL 20-8 Emily Dashiell (2)<>Goalkeepers:Notre Dame: Erin Goodman - 46:21 min; 6 goals against, 9 saves Amy Winik - 13:39 min; 2 goals against, 1 saveLouisville: Jen Heup - 49:26 min; 17 goals against, 11 saves Kendra Burawski - 10:34 min; 3 goals against, 1 save
Total Shots: Notre Dame: 38; Louisville: 29Ground Balls: Notre Dame: 32, Louisville: 20Draw Controls: Notre Dame: 14, Louisville: 14Caused Turnovers: Notre Dame: 13, Louisville: 6
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