March 25, 1999

&middot O’Shaughnessy continues five goals per game streak
&middot Callahan scoring streak reaches 18 games

NOTRE DAME, Ind. — The Notre Dame women’s lacrosse team lost for the first time this season as 19th-ranked Syracuse handed the Irish an 18-11 loss on Tuesday at the Carrier Dome. Notre Dame will open its home schedule this weekend against Ohio State on Fri., March 27, and Connecticut on Sun., March 29, at Moose Krause Stadium.

UP NEXT FOR THE IRISH: Notre Dame welcomes Ohio State and Connecticut to Moose Krause Stadium this weekend in the first home action of the season for the Irish. The Buckeyes enter the game with a 3-3 record and are coming off an 11-6 loss against Boston University. Celeste Cianfrani leads Ohio State with 11 goals, while Megan Mirick has 10 goals. Notre Dame beat Ohio State last year in Columbus as Maura Doyle (Cockeysville, Md.) scored the final three goals of the game as Irish rallied for a 10-9 win. The Buckeyes won the first meeting in 1997 with a 11-7 win at Moose Krause Stadium.

Connecticut, which will play Ohio State on Saturday at Notre Dame, enters the week with a 1-2 record and is coming off one-goal overtime losses to Columbia and Boston College. Pamela Lowie leads the Huskies with 12 goals, while Jennifer Schiavone has 20 saves in the net. The game will mark the first meeting between Notre Dame and Connecticut.

SYRACUSE RECAP: The 19th-ranked Syracuse Orangewomen built a 10-3 halftime lead and held on for an 18-11 win to hand Notre Dame its first loss of the season on Tuesday at the Carrier Dome. Syracuse junior Jenna Szyluk led all scorers with six goals, and Irish sophomore Lael O’Shaughnessy (Alexandria, Va.) scored five goals for the fourth straight game. Syracuse outshot Notre Dame 33-24 in the game, but the Irish played nearly even against Syracuse, collecting 34 groundballs to the Orangewomen’s 36 and 14 draw controls to 17. Notre Dame also committed fewer turnovers, 15-18, than Syracuse.

In addition to O’Shaughnessy, senior two-time captain Kerry Callahan (Churchville, Pa.) added three goals, while sophomore Courtney Calabrese (Darien, Conn.) scored twice. Sophomore Kathryn Perrella (Valley Cottage, N.Y.) chipped in a goal, and sophomore Maura Doyle had an assist. O’Shaughnessy finished with five goals and two assists for seven points. Sophomore Carrie Marshall (Colorado Springs, Colo.) made eight saves in goal for the Irish.

O’SHAUGHNESSY OFF TO FAST START: Irish sophomore attack Lael O’Shaughnessy continues her scoring spree with five goals in each of the first four games for 20 goals. She is on pace this weekend to surpass her 1998 goal total of 27 goals in the 12 games she played. O’Shaughnessy leads the team in scoring with 20 goals and three assists for 23 points.

CALLAHAN SCORING CONTINUES: Senior two-time captain Kerry Callahan scored three goals against Syracuse to extend her goal-scoring streak to 18 games. A starter all three years of the program, Callahan has scored at least one goal in 25 of the 26 varsity women’s lacrosse games played at Notre Dame. Since being held scoreless in the 11-7 loss to Ohio State on April 6, 1997, Callahan scored in the final game of 1997 and in all 13 games in 1998. She has started off her senior year with two goals against both Boston College and Richmond and three against both Gannon and Syracuse, bringing the streak to 18 games.

IRISH AGAINST RANKED OPPONENTS: Notre Dame’s game against 19th-ranked Syracuse marked the second ranked opponent the Irish have played in their history. Notre Dame also face fifth-ranked Duke last year and lost 19-5. The Irish are slated to play three teams currently ranked in the latest poll, second-ranked Duke, 11th-ranked Vanderbilt and 18th-ranked Yale.

COYNE AT THE HELM: Irish head coach Tracy Coyne is in her third season as head coach of the Notre Dame women’s lacrosse team and in her 12th season overall after coaching Roanoke for seven years and at Denison for two years. In 11-plus seasons as a head coach, her lacrosse teams have a combined 129-37 record (.777), qualified for the NCAA championship six years, won seven conference titles and won 10-plus games in nine of those seasons. She has led Notre Dame to two winning seasons and has a 15-11 (.577) record during her time with the Irish.

COYNE COMMENTS: “Obviously, we were disappointed with first half against Syracuse but the team showed a lot of character with our play in the second half when we tied them 8-8. We were happy that we held their top scorer to one goal. It was our first competition this year against a ranked opponent, so hopefully next time we will come out strong from the very beginning.” “We are excited for our home opener. People will be surprised with our improvement over last year. We had such a great game with Ohio State a year ago and it is a natural rival with another Midwest team. We are looking forward to it. Connecticut has had some close games so it should be an exciting weekend because we have two tough opponents coming in. We are looking to getting back on track after the Syracuse game.”

Results (3-1)

    Mar. 8    vs. Boston College   W,13-9               (Fairfax, Va.)     Mar. 11   vs. Richmond         W,14-13 (2OT)               (St. Petersburg, Fla.)     Mar. 17   at Gannon            W, 20-10     Mar. 23   at #19 Syracuse      L, 11-18     Mar. 26   OHIO STATE           4:00 p.m.     Mar. 28   CONNECTICUT          2:00 p.m.     Apr. 3    at Villanova         12:00 p.m.     Apr. 5    at Pennsylvania      7:00 p.m.     Apr. 9    DAVIDSON             7:00 p.m.     Apr. 11   DENVER               1:00 p.m.     Apr. 13   at Vanderbilt        3:00 p.m.     Apr. 16   DUKE                 4:00 p.m.     Apr. 18   YALE                 1:00 p.m.     Apr. 23   at Harvard           3:00 p.m.     Apr. 24   vs. Columbia         1:00 p.m.               (Cambridge, Mass.)