May 3, 2011
Notre Dame, Ind. –
Complete Release in PDF Format
– The Game: Notre Dame (9-8/6-2) vs. #16/#18 Georgetown (9-7/7-1)
– Date/Time/Site: Thursday, May 5, 2011 – 8:15 p.m. – Multi-Sport Field – Washington, D.C.
– Television: Both semifinal games and the BIG EAST Championship will be televised live by CBS College Sports with Jason Knapp and Sheehan Stanwick Burch calling all the action.
– Internet: Livestats will be available at the BIG EAST website for all games of the tournament. The site can be accessed at http://www.bigeast.org.
– The Game: The BIG EAST Championship Game Winner of Notre Dame-Georgetown game vs. Winner of Syracuse-Loyola game
– Date/Time/Site: Sat., May 7, 2010 – 1:00 p.m. – Multi-Sport Field – Washington, D.C.
– Television: CBS College Sports with Jason Knapp and Sheehan Stanwick Burch calling all the action.
– Internet: Follow the BIG EAST Women’s Lacrosse Tournament on the BIG EAST website at www.bigeast.org.
TOURNAMENT TIME: The Notre Dame women’s lacrosse team returns to the BIG EAST Tournament for the fifth consecutive year and will open play on Thursday, May 5 against the Georgetown Hoyas. The game will be played at Georgetown’s Multi-Sport Field in Washington, D.C., and will start at approximately 8:15 p.m. The opening game of the tournament will feature second-seeded Syracuse versus third-seeded Loyola at 5:30 p.m. Both games will be televised live by CBS College Sports. The Irish enter the tournament with a 9-7 overall record and a 6-2 mark in the BIG EAST, following the May 1, 17-6 win at Cincinnati, to close the regular-season schedule. Georgetown, the tournament’s top seed, was 9-7 overall in 2011 with a 7-1 mark in BIG EAST play. The Hoyas were tied for first in the BIG EAST with Syracuse, but took the first seed by handing the Orange their only conference loss of the season. Syracuse was 10-7 overall with the 7-1 regular-season record. Loyola is the tournament’s third seed after going 6-2 in the BIG EAST. The Greyhounds took the third seed as they defeated Notre Dame in head-to-head play this season. Overall, Loyola is 14-2 on the season and the highest ranked BIG EAST team on the national level. This year’s tournament field is the same as the four teams that made the 2010 tournament. Georgetown, Syracuse and Notre Dame have appeared in all five BIG EAST Tournaments to date.
IRISH BIG EAST TOURNAMENT HISTORY:2007 - (0-1) Georgetown 12, Notre Dame 10 (at Syracuse, N.Y.)2008 - (0-1) Georgetown 15, Notre Dame 14 (3ot) (at Notre Dame, Ind.)2009 - (2-0) Notre Dame 16, Syracuse 10 (at Washington, D.C.) Notre Dame 12, Georgetown 10 (at Washington, D.C.)2010 - (0-1) Syracuse 12, Notre Dame 11 (4ot) (at Piscataway, N.J.)
IRISH VERSUS TOURNAMENT FIELD: Notre Dame will enter Thursday’s game with Georgetown with a 5-11 all-time record against the Hoyas, including a 1-2 mark in BIG EAST Tournament play. Georgetown opened the all-time series against Notre Dame, winning the first seven meetings. Since the first Irish win against the Hoyas in 2006, Notre Dame has a 5-4 mark in nine meetings with Georgetown. The Irish handed the Hoyas their only loss in 2011, a 13-10 win on April 23 at Arlotta Stadium.
Versus Syracuse: Notre Dame and the Orange also have met 16 times in the all-time series with the Irish holding a 5-11 record against Syracuse. In BIG EAST Tourney play, the two teams have split a pair of games. The Irish are 5-4 all-time against Syracuse in games played at Notre Dame or on a neutral field and 0-7 at Syracuse. This year, the Irish lost, 12-7, to the Orange at the Carrier Dome on April 10.
Versus Loyola: The Irish and the Greyhounds have met six times in the all-time series with Notre Dame holding a 5-1 advantage. Loyola’s lone win in the series came on April 3 of this year, a 13-10 win at Arlotta Stadium. The two teams have never faced each other in the BIG EAST Tournament.
THE IRISH ALL-TIME: Notre Dame is coming off a week that saw them go 2-0 with wins at Louisville (16-15) and at Cincinnati (17-6). The two wins improves the Irish to 146-97 in the 15th year of the women’s lacrosse program. Notre Dame now has an all-time winning percentage of .601. The record includes a 71-34 (.676) mark at home, a 61-54 (.530) record on the road and a 14-9 (.609) ledger on neutral fields.
NATIONAL RANKINGS: Loyola comes into the 2011 BIG EAST Tournament with the highest rankings of the four participating teams. The Greyhounds are ranked ninth in the IWLCA coaches’ poll and eighth in the Inside Lacrosse media poll. Syracuse comes into the tournament ranked 15th in both polls while Georgetown is 16th in the IWLCA poll and 18th in the Inside Lacrosse rankings. Notre Dame is not ranked in either poll this week.
HEAD COACH Tracy Coyne: Tracy Coyne is in her 15th season at Notre Dame and her 24th year in collegiate lacrosse. Coyne brings a 260-123 (.679) career record into this week’s games. She recorded her 250th career win on April 22, 2010 in a 12-11 victory at Ohio State, to become the ninth coach in NCAA history to have 250 or more wins in her career. As the only head coach in the Notre Dame program’s history, Coyne is 146-97 (.601) and has guided the Irish to six NCAA tournaments (2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2009 and 2010) where her teams have advanced to the Final Four once (2006) and the quarterfinals twice (2002, 2009). The Irish have participated in all four BIG EAST Tournaments to date, beginning in 2007 and they recorded their first BIG EAST title in 2009 with wins over Syracuse (16-10) and Georgetown (12-10). A 1983 Ohio University graduate, Coyne was 23-5 in two seasons at Denison (1988-89), 91-21 in seven years at Roanoke (1990-96) and 146-97 in this, her 15th season 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. As a head coach, Coyne owns a 5-11 record against Georgetown and Syracuse and a 5-1 mark against Loyola. She is 2-3 all-time in the BIG EAST Tournament and guided the Irish to the 2009 championship.
A LOOK BACK AT LAST WEEK: April 29 – at Louisville – This one went right down to the final second as sophomore Jenny Granger (East Setauket, N.Y.) scored her fourth goal of the game with less than one second left on the clock to give the Irish a 16-15 win on the road. The victory clinched the final spot in the BIG EAST Tournament for Notre Dame. Freshman Kaitlyn Brosco (Shoreham, N.Y.) had three goals and an assist while Shaylyn Blaney (Sr., Stony Brook, N.Y.) and Kailene Abt (Sr., Huntington, N.Y.) each had three goals. Sophomore Jaimie Morrison (Yorktown Heights, N.Y.) added two goals and Megan Sullivan (Jr., Winchester, Mass.) had one. Junior Maggie Tamasitis (Boyertown, Pa.) chipped in five assists in the victory. The Irish had to offset the Cardinals’ threesome of Bergan Foley, Liz Lovejoy and Emily Dashiell that combined for 14 goals and three assists in the contest. Katie Oliverio had Louisville’s 15th goal of the game. Granger and Sullivan each scored in the final 31 seconds of the first half to give Notre Dame an 8-6 halftime lead. The teams traded goals in the second half and the Irish led 15-13 with under eight minutes left when Dashiell scored twice to tie the game with the second goal coming with 4:32 left. The Irish were able to work the clock down to under one minute. Following a loose ball in the waning moments Abt broke down the middle but fired a shot wide that went out of bounds with one second on the clock. Tamasitis was on the end line and found Granger all alone on the extended goal line and the sophomore fired it past goalkeeper Katie Zoeller as time expired. The game officials conferred following the goal and ruled that Granger’s shot crossed the goal line before time expired to give the Irish the win. Notre Dame outshot Louisville, 32-29, in the game. Zoeller finished with eight saves while Ellie Hilling (So., Rochester, N.Y.) had five saves for the Irish.
May 1 – at Cincinnati – Notre Dame got goals from 11 different players as the Irish rolled to a 17-6 win versus the Bearcats to close out the 2011 regular season at Nippert Stadium. Senior Kailene Abt and junior Maggie Tamasitis led the way with three goals each. Kaitlin Keena (Sr, Vienna, Va.) and sophomore Betsy Mastropieri (Richmond, Va.) scored two each with Jenny Granger, Shaylyn Blaney, Megan Sullivan, Jaimie Morrison, Lauren Fenlon (Sr. Dayton, Md.), Emily Conner (So., Alexandria, Va.) and McKenzie Brown (So., Greenwood Village, Colo.) scoring one each. Granger, with a goal and three assists and Tamasitis with three goals and an assist led the Irish with four points each. Allison Bell led Cincinnati with three goals while Katie Kiriazoglou, MacKenzie Parsons and Laura Simanski had one goal each. Kiriazoglou chipped in three assists for a four-point afternoon. After giving up the first goal of the game to the Bearcats just 27 seconds into the contest, Notre Dame ran off 11 straight goals on the way to a 13-2 lead after 30 minutes in the victory. The Irish outshot Cincinnati, 36-14, in the game. Both teams used two goalkeepers on the afternoon. Sophomore Ellie Hilling started her 35th consecutive game, playing the first 30 minutes, giving up a pair of goals with no saves. Fellow sophomore, Adele Bruggeman (Cincinnati, Ohio), played the final 30 minutes, giving up four goals while making four stops. The Bearcats started Haley Marvine who played the 23:06, giving up 12 goals with six saves. Jen Walsh played 36:54, giving up five goals with six saves.
THREE STRAIGHT: Notre Dame enters the BIG EAST Tournament on a three-game winning streak overall and in the conference. The three-game winning streak is the longest for the Irish this season. In fact, it is the only winning streak for Notre Dame this year. Prior to the streak, the Irish did not have back-to-back wins all season.
VERSUS THE BEST: Notre Dame’s win over Georgetown (April 23) was the first of the season for the Irish versus a nationally ranked team. The win over the 16th-ranked Hoyas improved Notre Dame to 1-5 this year against the top teams on their schedule. The Irish previously lost to #17/#20 Vanderbilt (12-10 in overtime), at #12/#13 Stanford (13-12), to #2/#2 Northwestern (14-11), to #5/#4 Loyola (13-10) and at #13/#15 Syracuse (12-7). In 2010, Notre Dame was 6-5 versus ranked teams.
ON THE VERGE: With five caused turnovers against Louisville and Cincinnati, senior defender Jackie Doherty set Notre Dame’s single-season mark with 45 caused turnovers this season. Teammate Shaylyn Blaney currently has the fourth-best single season mark with 36 caused turnovers this year. Shannon Burke `09 set the previous mark of 44 during the 2009 campaign.
THE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: Senior defender Jackie Doherty continues to be a dominate force on the Irish defense this season. She enters the BIG EAST Tournament leading the team in ground balls (49), is second in draw controls (33) and first in caused turnovers with 45. She has had three games this season with six caused turnovers, tying the single-game Irish record held by Shannon Burke `09.
OVER 30 CLUB: Maggie Tamasitis extended her current point-scoring streak to 35 games with three goals and an assist at Cincinnati on May 1. That gives her the fourth-longest point streak in Notre Dame history. She is just one of five players in the program’s history to have a scoring streak of 30 games or more. In her streak, Tamasitis has 39 goals and 65 assists for 104 points. She is currently 10th on the all-time points list with 139 points on 54 goals and 85 assists.
TOP SCORING STREAKS (30 or more):Caitlin McKinney `08 (51 games)Gina Scioscia `10 (37 games)Danielle Shearer `03 (36 games)Maggie Tamasitis (35 games)Jillian Byers `09 (30 games)
STREAKY IRISH: While Tamasitis’s streak has reached 35 games, she is joined by seven other players with active point streaks for the Irish. Going into Thursday’s game with Georgetown, these players have point streaks for the Irish.
Maggie Tamasitis - 35 games (39g, 65a, 104 pts)Shaylyn Blaney - 12 games (22g, 6a, 28 pts.)Ansley Stewart - 5 games (9g, 3a, 12 pts.)Kaitlin Keena - 4 games (4g, 6a, 10 pts)Jenny Granger -2 games (5g, 3a, 8 pts)Kailene Abt - 2 games (6g, 0a, 6 pts)Jaimie Morrison -2 games (3g, 0a, 3 pts)Megan Sullivan - 2 games (2g, 0a, 2 pts)
REACHING THE SUMMIT: With six assists last week, Maggie Tamasitis has climbed into second on Notre Dame’s all-time assist list with 85. She now trails Gina Scioscia `10 by 21 assists with one year left to play at Notre Dame.
Assists1. Gina Scioscia (2007-10) 1062. Maggie Tamasitis (2008-) 853. Caitlin McKinney (2005-08) 80
With 39 assists this season, Tamasitis is just four off the school's single-season record, held by Scioscia.
Single-Season Assists1. Gina Scioscia (2009) 432. Crysti Foote (2006) 403. Maggie Tamasitis (2011) 394. Gina Scioscia (2008) 35
WLAX.COM ROOKIE OF THE WEEK: Freshman midfielder Kaitlyn Brosco (Shoreham, N.Y.) was named WomensLax.com rookie of the week for her play in games versus Vanderbilt and Georgetown (week of April 25). In the two games, Brosco scored eight goals and added one assist for nine points. In the 12-10 overtime loss at Vanderbilt on April 20, Brosco had a career-high four goals and five points. In the upset win over No. 16 Georgetown on April 23, Brosco equaled her career high with four goals in the 13-10 win over the Hoyas. For the season, she is tied for the team lead in goals with 29 and is third in points with 36.
SHARE THE WEALTH: Notre Dame has eight players on the roster with 20 or more points and eight players with 17 or more goals. Maggie Tamasitis leads the team in points (60) and assists (39). Kaitlyn Brosco and Shaylyn Blaney are tied for the team lead in goals with 29 on the year. No freshman has ever led Notre Dame in goals for a season in the 15-year history of the program.
BALL HAWKS: Senior defender Jackie Doherty became Notre Dame’s all-time leader in caused turnovers versus Vanderbilt after being credited with four swipes versus the Commodores on April 20. She now has 116 for her career as she has passed Tina Fedarcyk’s `02 career mark of 107. Doherty leads the BIG EAST with 45 and is third in the NCAA with 2.53 per game. Teammate Shaylyn Blaney is right behind her with 36 on the year and ranks third in the BIG EAST and ninth in the nation with 2.06 per game. The duo has combined for 81 of Notre Dame’s 171 caused turnovers this season (47.4%). All-time, they are now first and second on Notre Dame’s list with 116 and 111 respectively.
MAKING THE STOPS: Sophomore goalkeeper Ellie Hilling has now started 35 consecutive games in goal for Notre Dame. As a freshman she played all but 2:17 of the season and was 11-7 with a 9.69 goals-against average and a .421 save percentage. This season, she is 9-8 with a 9.39 goals-against average and a .436 save percentage. This season has seen Hilling record her three top save performances in a game. On April 23 against Georgetown, the sophomore from Rochester, N.Y., had a career-best 15 saves in the 13-10 win. That was one more than her 14-save game at Syracuse on April 10 in a 12-7 loss. She opened the year with a then-career high 13 saves in the 20-6 win at California on Feb. 11.
ROAD WARRIORS: With two wins last weekend at Louisville and Cincinnati, Notre Dame finished the regular season with a 5-4 record away from South Bend, Ind. The Irish have had their share of success on the road since the 2008 season, winning six road games in each of the last three campaigns. Since the 2008 season, Notre Dame is 23-14 (.622) away from Arlotta Stadium.
OVERTIME IRISH: Notre Dame’s 12-10 overtime loss to Vanderbilt on April 20 was the second overtime loss for the Irish this season. On March 20, they dropped a 6-5 double overtime decision to Cornell. Notre Dame has now played 21 overtime games in the program’s history and is now 8-13 in those games. Last season, Notre Dame played in four overtime games, including the longest game in BIG EAST history, a 72:58 affair against Syracuse in the conference semifinals, and was 2-2 in those games.
CAREER DAYS: Freshman midfielder Kaitlyn Brosco and sophomore midfielder Jaimie Morrison turned in career-best performances in the loss at Vanderbilt on April 20. Brosco had personal highs with four goals and five points in the 12-10 loss, getting all four goals in a 2:31 span of the first half, turning a 6-3 deficit into a 7-6 Notre Dame lead. Morrison recorded her single-game bests with two goals and one assist for three points. Brosco wasted little time in equaling her career best for goals in a game as she scored four more times in the 13-10 win over Georgetown on April 23. Brosco is tied for the team lead in goals with 29 and ranks third in points with 36. Morrison also has career highs in goals (7), assists (3) and points (10) this season.
JENNY’S BACK: After going without a point in four straight games, sophomore midfielder Jenny Granger found the scoring touch versus Louisville and Cincinnati last weekend. In the 16-15 win over the Cardinals, Granger scored four goals in a game for the third time this season. She got the game winner in that one with less than one second on the clock. In the 17-6 win over Cincinnati, Granger had a career-high three assists and her second, four-point game of the weekend. She is fourth in team scoring with 23 goals and 12 assists for 35 points, all carere highs.
GETTING ON THE SCORESHEET: Senior defender Lauren Fenlon got offensive in her final regular season game against Cincinnati. Known more for her shutdown style of defense, Fenlon scored the first goal of her career with 27 seconds left in the 17-6 win over the Bearcats. She has played in 65 career games for the Irish. Fellow defender Emily Conner also got on the scoreboard, getting the third goal of her career, hers coming with 1:58 left in the game.
A SIX PACK: Maggie Tamasitis equaled a pair of Notre Dame single-game records in the 15-5 win over Connecticut on April 16. Her six-assist game tied a mark set by Gina Scioscia `10 on March 17, 2009 against Rutgers and by Kerry Callahan `99 on March 17, 1999 versus Gannon. Tamasitis had four assists in the first half to tie a mark set by Jillian Byers `09 in the second half against Connecticut on April 18, 2009 and by Callahan in the first half versus Gannon.
CENTURY CLUB: Senior midfielder Kailene Abt became just the ninth player in the history of the Notre Dame women’s lacrosse program to score 100 goals in her career. She reached the “Century” mark on April 16 when she scored three goals in the win over Connecticut. She now has 107 career goals and is ninth all-time inthat department. For her career, Abt is 11th all-time in scoring with 134 career points in 73 career games. Junior Maggie Tamasitis became the 12th player in the 15-year history of the Notre Dame women’s lacrosse program to score 100 or more points in her career earlier this season. Tamasitis has now played in 56 career games and has 54 goals and 85 assists for 139 career points. She is 10th on the all-time points list at Notre Dame entering this week’s action.
TOP OF THE LIST: With five draw controls in the win over Connecticut, senior midfielder Shaylyn Blaney became Notre Dame’s all-time leader in draw controls with 156. That moved her past Jillian Byers `09 who had 154. Blaney now has 163 going into the BIG EAST Tournament. She continues to show that she is one of the top midfielders in the nation and a standout performer all over the field. At Notre Dame, she is now third all-time in goals (156), seventh in points (182), fifth in ground balls (131), first in draw controls (163) and second in caused turnovers (110).
SPEAKING OF ASSISTS: Senior Shaylyn Blaney is known for putting the ball in the net as she has 156 goals to her credit on the year. This season, she has become the passer as she has a pair of three-assist games versus California and Duquesne. With an assist in the win over Cincinnati, Blaney has a career high 10 assists this season and 25 assists for her career.
AHEAD OF PACE: With two goals and two assists in the 13-10 win over Georgetown, senior midfielder Kaitlin Keena equaled a season high for points in a game set earlier this season at Stanford. The speedster is seventh on the team in scoring this season with 19 goals and 10 assists for 29 points. A year ago, she had four goals and eight assists for 12 points in 18 games. Keena’s best year for the Irish was 2009 when she had 19 goals and 15 assists for 34 points. She is 10th on Notre Dame’s all-time assist list with 42 in her career.
FOR STARTERS: Freshman defender Margaret Smith (Westminster, Md.) moved into the Irish starting lineup on March 27th and has made her presence felt on the Notre Dame defense. She has played in all 17 games this season, making nine starts. She is currently fifth in ground balls (30), seventh in draw controls (14) and third in caused turnovers (15) in her first year at Notre Dame.