Senior Kaki Orr leads the Irish with 35 draw controls this season.  She has also scored 10 goals with four assists from her midfield position.

Irish Set To Host #4/#4 Duke And California On April 5 And April 7; Notre Dame brings four-game winning streak into Easter weekend games.

April 4, 2007

Notre Dame, Ind. –

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• The Game: #12/#10 Notre Dame (9-2) vs. #4/#4 Duke (9-1)

• Date/Time/Site: Thur., April 5, 2007 • 4:00 p.m. • Loftus Sports Center • Notre Dame, Ind..

• The Game: #12/#10 Notre Dame (9-2) vs. California (5-3)

• Date/Time/Site: Sat., April 7, 2007 • 1:00 p.m. • Loftus Sports Center • Notre Dame, Ind.

• Video Streaming: All remaining Notre Dame women’s lacrosse home games will be streamed live via Fighting Irish All-Access on the Notre Dame website at und.com. To view the game, the viewer will need to be using Internet Explorer 6 with Windows Media Player 9 or higher.

IRISH HOMESTAND CONTINUES: The Notre Dame women’s lacrosse team continues its’ five-game homestand with a pair of home games this week. The Irish will face the fourth-ranked Duke Blue Devils on Thursday, April 5 in a 4:00 p.m. game that will be played at the Loftus Sports Center due to expected rain, snow, high winds and temperatures in the mid-30s. On Saturday, April 7, Notre Dame will play host to the California Golden Bears in a 1:00 p.m. game at the Loftus Sports Center. The California game will also be played indoors due to expected inclement weather conditions. The Irish enter the week on a four-game winning streak that has improved their record to 9-2 on the season and 2-1 in BIG EAST play. Since losing to top-ranked Northwestern on March 1, the Irish have won seven of their last eight games. Notre Dame is currently ranked 12th in the IWLCA coaches’ poll and 10th by Inside Lacrosse.com. The Duke Blue Devils, a national semifinalist along with the Irish in 2006, bring a 9-1 overall record into Thursday’s contest and are ranked fourth in both national polls. They are coming off a thrilling, 19-18, sudden-death overtime win over Virginia on March 31. Duke is 2-1 in the ACC and has seven wins this season against ranked opponents. California visits the Midwest for the second time in two weeks as the Golden Bears face Notre Dame on Saturday and then Northwestern on Monday, April 9. They bring a 5-3 overall record to the Loftus Center and are 1-0 this year in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF). Last weekend, Cal lost a 9-6 contest at Vanderbilt and a 9-8 overtime game at Ohio State.

LIVE VIDEO STREAMING: Despite being forced indoors this weekend due to the weather, both games versus Duke and California will be streamed live on Notre Dame’s website, und.com. To watch the game on your computer, go to Fighting Irish All-Access on und.com. To view the game, the viewer will need to be using Internet Explorer 6 with Windows Media Player 9 or higher while watching on an IBM computer.

IRISH VERSUS BLUE DEVILS: Notre Dame and Duke have met nine times in the all-time series with the Blue Devils holding an 8-1 edge in those games. The two teams met last season at Duke with the Irish dropping an 11-10 decision. At Notre Dame, the Irish are 0-3 and at Durham, N.C., they are 0-5. The lone Notre Dame win in the series came on March 10, 2004, an 11-9 win at Orlando, Fla. At the time, Duke was ranked No. 2 in the nation and that is still the highest-ranked team that the Irish have ever beaten. The Blue Devils are also the first ranked team to ever play the Irish as the two teams met for the first time on March 29, 1998, just the second year of the Notre Dame women’s lacrosse program. Duke was ranked fifth the first time they faced the Irish.

IRISH VERSUS THE GOLDEN BEARS: Notre Dame and California have played three times in the all-time series with the Irish winning all three games. They are 2-0 at Berkeley, Calif., and 1-0 in South Bend. Last season, Notre Dame opened the year with a 23-12 win at California. The 23 goals scored in that game set a school record for most goals in a game. Crysti Foote `06, also set a Notre Dame scoring mark with 11 points in that game as she scored nine goals with two assists in the contest.

BIG EAST PLAYERS OF THE WEEK: Defensive midfielder Alicia Billings (So., Potomac, Md.) and attack Jillian Byers (So., Northport, N.Y.) were named the defensive and offensive players of the week by the BIG EAST for the week ending April 1. Billings scored three goals in wins over Connecticut and Duquesne while grabbing six ground balls and causing three turnovers. Byers led the Irish in scoring in the wins, getting eight goals with two assists for a 10-point week. Against Connecticut in a 12-11 win, Byers had four goals and one assist to lead the team. In the 15-7 win over Duquesne, she again scored four goals an added and assist for five points.

HEAD COACH Tracy Coyne: Tracy Coyne is in her 11th season at Notre Dame and 20th year in collegiate lacrosse. Coyne brings a 210-92 (.695) career record into the week against Duke and California and is 96-66 (.593) 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 1-8 all-time against Duke and 3-0 versus California.

ON A ROLL: The Irish enter this week’s action having won four straight and seven of their last eight games. Over the last two seasons, Notre Dame owns a 24-6 overall record for an .800 winning percentage.

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Senior Meghan Murphy already has career highs in goals (15), assists (14) and points (29) this season. She had a career high five-point game (3g, 2a) in the win over Duquesne on April 1.

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NOTRE DAME-DUQUESNE RECAP: Sophomore Jillian Byers and senior Meghan Murphy (Sr., Centennial, Colo.) each had five points to lead Notre Dame to a 15-7 win over the Duquesne Dukes on April 1 at Moose Krause Stadium. Byers scored four goals and added an assist while Murphy had three goals and two assists in registering her career-best five-point game. Notre Dame also got two goals from Heather Ferguson (Jr., Newtown Square, Pa.) and Kaki Orr (Sr., Darien, Conn.) while Caitlin McKinney (Jr., Lafayette Hill, Pa.), Lena Zentgraf (Sr., Charlottesville, Va.), Jane Stoeckert (So., Mendham, N.J.) and Alicia Billings (So., Potomac, Md.) scored one goal each. The Irish jumped out to an 8-0 first-half lead and never looked back. Goalkeeper Erin Goodman (So., Cortlandt Park, N.Y.) made eight saves in the win as Notre Dame out shot Duquesne, 31-24 in the game. Duquesne was led by Sarah Cates with two goals while top scorer Kathleen McNish had a goal and two assists for a three-point game to lead the Dukes. Courtney Tamasitis, Meg Cloutman, Sarah Carson and Janna Faulkner added single goals in the game.

BIG EAST WIN VS. UCONN: Jillian Byers paced the Notre Dame attack with four goals and one assist and fellow sophomores Jane Stoeckert (Mendham, N.J.) and Alicia Billings scored a pair of goals as Notre Dame rallied for a 12-11 win over Connecticut at Moose Krause Stadium. Caitlin McKinney, Meghan Murphy, Kaki Orr and Mary Carpenter (Jr., Rochester, N.Y.) also scored for the Irish. Whitney Michele and Janet Williams each scored three goals for the Huskies while BIG EAST leading scorer, Shannon Burke, had two goals and two assists in the loss. The one-goal win was the third of the season for the Irish and gave them a 2-1 record in the BIG EAST. The game pitted three of the conference’s top scorers in UConn’s Burke (first), and Notre Dame’s McKinney (third) and Byers (fourth).

VERSUS THE BEST: Notre Dame’s game against #4/#4 Duke on Thursday afternoon will mark the eighth time this season that the Irish have played against a ranked team. The are currently 5-2 in games versus ranked teams with wins over #12 James Madison, #18 Stanford, #11 Cornell, #18 Yale and #19 Connecticut (rankings are IWLCA rankings when team faced the Irish.). The losses have come to #1 Northwestern and #11 Syracuse.

IRISH AT LOFTUS: So far this season, Notre Dame owns a 4-1 record at home. The Irish are 2-1 at the Loftus Center and 2-0 at Moose Krause Stadium. Since the program began in 1997, the Irish are 19-6 (.760) at the Loftus Center.

HOME SWEET HOME: During the 2006 season, the Fighting Irish were 15-4 overall, including a 9-0 mark at home, the best home record ever for the Irish. This season, Notre Dame is 4-1 in home contests, giving the Irish a 13-1 record at home over the last two seasons.

2007 IRISH AWARDS & HONORS
Tewaaraton Trophy Watch List
Jillian ByersCaitlin McKinney
BIG EAST Post-Graduate Scholarship Meghan Murphy
BIG EAST Offensive Player of the WeekFeb. 26 - Caitlin McKinneyMarch 5 - Jillian ByersApril 2 - Jillian Byers
BIG EAST Defensive Player of the WeekApril 2 - Alicia Billings
BIG EAST Honor RollFeb. 26 - Meaghan Fitzpatrick, Sr., DMarch 12 - Shannon Burke, So., M/DMarch 12 - Jillian Byers, So., AMarch 19 - Caitlin McKinney, Jr. AMarch 25 - Erin Goodman, So., GKMarch 25 - Caitlin McKinney, Jr., A

CAREER YEAR: Senior Meghan Murphy has become an offensive force for the Irish over the last seven games as she has scored 23 points (12g, 11a), including a career-high five-point game (3g, 2a) versus Duquesne and a pair of four-point games (1g, 3a) at Canisius and versus Ohio State. Murphy is currently third on the team with career highs in goals (15), assists (14) and points (29), breaking her previous career bests of 14 goals, 9 assists and 23 points set in 2006.

IRISH STREAKS: Junior attack Caitlin McKinney has run her personal point-scoring streak to 33 games, the second longest point streak in Notre Dame history. Only former All-American Danielle Shearer `03 has a longer streak – 36-game streak from 2001-03. During her 33-game streak, that is the 10th-longest active streak in the country, McKinney has 82 goals and 36 assists for 118 points. Other current scoring streaks for the Irish include:

Jillian Byers – 11 games (38-7-45)

Lena Zentgraf – 11 games (13-13-26)

Meghan Murphy – 9 games (13-12-25)

Jane Stoeckert – 9 games (11-9-20)

Alicia Billings – 2 games (3-0-3)

Kaki Orr – 2 games (3-1-4)

SCORING RACE: Jillian Byers and Caitlin McKinney come into the weekend tied for the team lead in scoring with 45 points each. Byers has 38 goals and seven assists for her 45 points while McKinney has 32 goals and 13 assists for her 45 point season.

THE CENTURY MARK: With four goals in the win over Loyola on March 25, junior Caitlin McKinney scored her 30th goal of the season and the 100th of her career on her fourth goal of the game. McKinney now has 102 goals to rank fifth on the all-time goal list (Meredith Simon is fourth with 109). Her 13 assists this season give her 47 for her career and rank her sixth in that category. She now has 149 career points and has moved into fifth on the all-time points list, just nine behind Meredith Simon’s 158.

NOT FAR BEHIND: Sophomore Jillian Byers is right behind McKinney as the dynamic duo climbs through the Irish record books. In just 30 career games, Byers already has 92 goals and 31 assists for 123 career points. She is sixth in goals, eighth in assists and seventh in career points at Notre Dame.

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.

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Sophomore Jane Stoeckert has scored two or more points in a game for the Irish in nine straight games. She has equaled her career highs with 11 goals, 9 assists and 20 points this year.

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STICK WITH STOECKERT: Sophomore midfielder Jane Stoeckert has now scored two or more points in eight straight games and brings a nine-game scoring streak into the game with Duke on Thursday. She currently has 11 goals and nine assists for 20 points in her current streak and that equals her numbers set last year in 19 games. She is fifth on the Irish in scoring this season.

LEAN ON LENA: Senior midfielder Lena Zentgraf has already put together a career year for the Irish in her final season. Zentgraf goes into this week’s action with career highs in goals (13), assists (13) and points (26) to rank fourth in team scoring. Zentgraf’s previous best season came in 2005 when she had 11 goals and eight assists for 19 points.

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Sophomore Erin Goodman is 9-2 in goal for the Irish this season. She owns a 9.43 goals-against average and a .490 save percentage.

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MAKING THE STOPS: Sophomore goaltender Erin Goodman (Cortlandt Manor, N.Y.) improved her overall record to 9-2 with a 9.43 goals-against average and a .490 goals-against average after wins over Connecticut and Duquesne. She had 11 saves in the 12-11 win over Connecticut and followed it with an eight-save game against Duquesne. On March 25 versus Loyola, she gave up one goal with 14 saves in an 11-1 win over Loyola. The one goal that she surrenedered against Loyola gives Goodman the Notre Dame and BIG EAST record for fewest goals allowed in a game. The previous Irish mark of two goals against had occured four times in the program’s history. The record in BIG EAST play came on April 28, 2002, in a 9-2 win at Rutgers with Irish All-American Jen White `03, getting the win. Over the last seven games, Goodman owns a 6-1 record with an 8.71 goals-against average and a .541 save percentage.

CONTROLLING THE DRAW: The Irish currently lead the BIG EAST in draw controls with 151 in their first 11 games. They rank second to Syracuse in draw controls per game with 13.73. Leading the team is senior Kaki Orr who has 35 for the year and is second in the conference with 3.09 per game. She is followed by Lena Zentgraf who has 22 on the year or 2.00 per game. Notre Dame 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. As a team, the Irish have won 151 draw controls while losing 120 for a 55.7% success rate in the first 11 games of the season.

FIRST TIMERS: Two members of the Notre Dame women’s lacrosse team saw their first collegiate action of the season in the 15-7 win over Duquesne on April 1. Freshman attack Maria Brooks (Timonium, Md.) and defender Rachel Guerrera (Wantagh, N.Y.) both played in the victory.

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 four assists in the first 11 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. On March 30, the Irish defeated Connecticut for their third one-goal win of the year. Notre Dame has now played 13 overtime games in their 11 seasons and are 6-7 in those games. Over the last two seasons, the Irish are 7-2 in one goal games and 14-16 in the program’s history.

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 season, grabbing 39 ground balls while causing 20 turnovers. McKinney was a first team all-BIG EAST selection last year and a third team IWLCA All-American after scoring 42 goals with 22 assists for 64 points. Byers also was a first team all-BIG EAST choice and a second team IWLCA All-American while scoring 54 goals and 24 assists for 78 points, the second-best single-season totals and freshman records at Notre Dame.