May 13, 2010
Notre Dame, Ind. –
Complete Release in PDF Format 
– The Game: #14/#16 Notre Dame (11-6/6-2) at #2/#2 Northwestern (17-1/5-0)
– Date/Time/Site: Saturday, May 15, 2010 – 1:00 p.m. (CT) – Lakeside Field – Evanston, Ill.
– Television: The Notre Dame-Northwestern game will be shown on the Big Ten Network at 9:30 p.m. (CT) on Sat., May 15.
– Internet: Gametracker will be available on the Notre Dame website (und.com) and on the Northwestern website (nusports.com). The Northwestern site will also have live video streaming available free of charge.
NCAA TOURNAMENT TIME: The Notre Dame women’s lacrosse team makes its third consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament, a first in the program’s history, when the Irish travel to Evanston, Ill., to face No. 2 seed Northwestern in a first round game. The two teams will play at 1:00 p.m. (CT) on Saturday, May 15 at Lakeside Field. For Notre Dame, this marks the fourth time in the last five years and the sixth time in the last nine campaigns that the Irish have participated in the NCAA Tournament. The previous appearances have occured in 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008 and 2009. When Notre Dame faces the Wildcats on Saturday, it will mark the third time that the two Midwest rivals have met in the first round of the NCAA Tournament with the previous contests coming in 2004 and 2008. The Irish bring an 11-6 overall record into the game with Northwestern and were second in the BIG EAST with a 6-2 mark. Notre Dame lost in the semifinals of the BIG EAST Tournament on May 6, 12-11 in four overtimes, to Syracuse. The Wildcats will meet the Irish after compiling a 17-1 overall record and a 5-0 mark in the American Lacrosse Conference (ALC). They won their sixth consecutive ALC title on May 8 by defeating Vanderbilt, 23-14, at Columbus, Ohio. Northwestern will be looking to win its sixth consecutive national championship this season. Notre Dame enters the tournament ranked 14th in the IWLCA coaches poll and 16th in the Inside Lacrosse media poll. Northwestern is ranked second in both polls. The winner of Saturday’s contest will move on to the second round of the tournament versus the winner of the Duke-Vanderbilt game on May 22 or 23.
IRISH VERSUS WILDCATS: Notre Dame and Northwestern have met 11 times in the all-time series with the Wildcats holding a 9-2 advantage. The two teams met this season on March 30th in Evanston with Northwestern taking a 15-5 victory. Notre Dame is 1-6 all-time in games played at Northwestern, including 0-2 in NCAA play. This is the third meeting between the two schools in the post season. The first meeting came in 2004, with the Wildcats taking a 10-8 victory at Lakeside Field. In 2008, Northwestern handed the Irish a 15-7 loss in the first round. The last time that Notre Dame defeated Northwestern was April 26, 2003, a 13-9 win at home. Since then, the Wildcats have won nine straight against the Irish.
IRISH NCAA TOURNAMENT HISTORY: Notre Dame makes its sixth NCAA Tournament appearance this season and their third consecutive. Prior to this season, the Irish had advanced in 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008 and 2009. The Irish own a 4-5 all-time record in NCAA action, including a 4-0 home mark, an 0-4 record on the road and an 0-1 mark on neutral fields. The highest the Irish have ever been seeded is sixth in 2006 and 2009. In 2002, Notre Dame was a seventh seed in its first NCAA Tournament appearance.
2002 NCAA TOURNAMENT: 2004 NCAA TOURNAMENT5/9/02 - at Notre Dame 11, Ohio State 7 5/13/04 - at Northwestern 10, Notre Dame 85/12/02 - at Princeton 11, Notre Dame 5
2006 NCAA TOURNAMENT: 2008 NCAA TOURNAMENT5/14/06 - at Notre Dame 16, Cornell 8 5/11/08 - at Northwestern 15, Notre Dame 75/20/06 - at Notre Dame 12, Georgetown 95/27/06 - vs. Dartmouth 14, Notre Dame 8 2009 NCAA TOURNAMENT (at Boston, Mass.) 5/10/09 - at Notre Dame 19, Vanderbilt 13 5/16/09 - at North Carolina 16, Notre Dame 10
2010 NCAA TOURNAMENT PAIRINGS:
Marist (10-7) at #1 Maryland (18-1)Boston University (11-8) at #8 Penn (14-3)
Stanford (15-5) at #5 James Madison (16-2)Syracuse (13-6) at #4 Georgetown (13-5)
Navy (17-3) at #3 North Carolina (15-2)Towson (13-4) at #6 Virginia (13-5)
Vanderbilt (12-5) at #7 Duke (13-5)Notre Dame (11-6) at #2 Northwestern (17-1)
NOTRE DAME NCAA SCORING STATS:Player GP G A PTSGina Scioscia 3 7 3 10Kailene Abt 3 6 1 7Jackie Doherty 3 3 2 5Shaylyn Blaney 3 4 0 4Kaitlin Keena 3 1 3 4Ansley Stewart 2 1 2 3Maggie Tamasitis 2 1 0 1Rachel Guerrera 3 0 0 0Lauren Fenlon 2 0 0 0Maggie Zentgraf 2 0 0 0Megan Sullivan 2 0 0 0Kate Newall 2 0 0 0Kelly Driscoll 1 0 0 0
BIG EAST RECAP: Notre Dame and Syracuse met in the BIG EAST semifinals on May 6 in Piscataway, N.J., and it took 72:58 to decide the winner. Syracuse senior midfielder Christina Dove scored her third goal of the game with 2:02 left in the fourth overtime to give the Orange a 12-11 win over the Irish. The game was the longest in Notre Dame history and the longest in BIG EAST Tournament play. The Irish were led offensively by senior attack Gina Scioscia who scored four goals in the first half and added an assist for a five-point night. Junior midfielder Shaylyn Blaney added four goals while Megan Sullivan scored a pair and Kailene Abt added a single goal in the loss. Sophomore Maggie Tamasitis had three assists in the game for the Irish. Syracuse was led by Halley Quillinan with four goals to go with Dove’s three-goal game. Tegan Brown scored a pair with Tee Ladouceur, Jackie DePetris and Michelle Tumulo, scoring one goal each. The Orange advanced to the BIG EAST championship game where they lost to Georgetown, 13-11. The Irish were out shot, 32-18, in the game. Notre Dame freshman goaltender Ellie Hilling tied her career high with 12 saves in the game. Syracuse goalkeeper Liz Hogan had four stops in the game. The Irish trailed 4-0 in the opening half before scoring seven goals in the final 8:38 of the first half to take a 7-5 lead at the break. In the second half, Sullivan scored for the Irish with 27 seconds left to take a 10-9 lead only to see Quillinan tie the game with 12 seconds left at 10-10. In the first overtime, Blaney gave Notre Dame an 11-10 lead with 4:32 left only to see Quillinan tie the score again at 11-11 with 23 seconds on the clock. After six minutes of sudden death, the teams went into the fourth extra session when Dove ended the game just 58 seconds into the stanza for the game winner.
ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM: Three members of the Notre Dame roster were selected to the 2010 BIG EAST all-tournament game following Saturday’s title game. Leading the trio was senior attack Gina Scioscia, who had four goals and an assist for five points in the 12-11 loss. Junior midfielder Shaylyn Blaney was picked for the team after scoring four goals in the one-goal loss. Rounding out the Notre Dame contingent was freshman goalkeeper Ellie Hilling. The Rochester, N.Y., native kept Notre Dame in the game early and finished with a personal-best 12 saves in the game. She set an Irish record for minutes played in one game as she played 72:58, surpassing the previous mark of 72:00 set on April 13, 2003.
BIG EAST TOURNAMENT HISTORY: Notre Dame has appeared in all four BIG EAST Tournaments to date and now has a 2-3 record all-time. The Irish have lost three times in the semifinals and won the tournament in 2009.
2007 - Georgetown 12, Notre Dame 12 (at Syracuse, N.Y.)2008 - Georgetown 15, Notre Dame 14 (3ot) (at Notre Dame, Ind.)2009 - Notre Dame 16, Syracuse 10 Notre Dame 12, Georgetown 10 (at Washington, D.C.)2010 - Syracuse 12, Notre Dame 11 (4ot) (at Piscataway, N.J.)
HEAD COACH Tracy Coyne: Tracy Coyne is in her 14th season at Notre Dame and her 23rd year in collegiate lacrosse. Coyne brings a 251-114 (.688) career record into this week’s game. She recorded her 250th career win on April 22, 2010 in a 12-11 victory at Ohio State, making her just 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 137-88 (.609) 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 137-88 in this, her 14th 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, she is 2-9 all-time versus Northwestern, including 0-2 in NCAA play.
COACHING MILESTONE: Notre Dame head coach Tracy Coyne recorded her 250th victory in the 12-11 win at Ohio State on April 22. In 23 seasons, Coyne now has a career mark of 251-114 with a .688 winning percentage. She is the ninth coach in college lacrosse history to have 250 or more wins in her career. Her 251 wins ranks her seventh among active coaches and the .688 winning percentage is 16th among active coaches with a minimum of 10 years coaching at a four-year school.
2010 IRISH LEADERS:Points - Gina Scioscia (59)Goals - Shaylyn Blaney (40)Assists - Maggie Tamasitis (26)Shots - Shaylyn Blaney (101)Ground Balls - Jackie Doherty (49)Draw Controls - Shaylyn Blaney (34)Caused Turnovers - Jackie Doherty (37)
STREAKY IRISH: Six different Notre Dame players bring scoring streaks into the NCAA Tournament game with Northwestern. The list includes:
Gina Scioscia - 36 games (87g, 61a, 148 pts)Maggie Tamasitis - 17 games (17g, 26a, 43 pts)Kailene Abt - 9 games (14g, 5a, 19 pts)Shaylyn Blaney - 8 games (23g, 2a, 25 pts)Megan Sullivan - 3 games (4g, 1a, 5 pts.)Jenny Granger - 2 games (3g, 2a, 5 pts.)
NAIL BITERS: One thing that can be said about the Notre Dame women’s lacrosse team is that they keep fans on the edge of their seats. In 11 of the team’s 17 games this season, the Irish the have gone to overtime in four of them while all 11 have been decided by one or two goals. Notre Dame is 2-2 in overtime, 5-3 in games decided by one goal and 7-4 in games decided by two goals or less. In the BIG EAST Tournament, the Irish dropped a 12-11, four overtime game to Syracuse in the semifinals. That game was decided after 72:58, the longest game in Notre Dame history and the longest in the history of the BIG EAST Tournament.
ROAD WARRIORS: Through the first 17 games of the 2010 season, Notre Dame is 6-3 on the road to give the Irish three consecutive 6-3 road marks since the 2008 season. Over the last three seasons, Notre Dame is 18-9 (.667) away from home.
VERSUS THE BEST: Notre Dame’s 12-11, four overtime loss to 11th-ranked Syracuse in the BIG EAST Tournament dropped the Irish to 5-5 this season versus nationally ranked teams. For the year, the Irish have wins over No. 11 Boston University, No. 19 Louisville, No. 13 Loyola and No. 7 Syracuse and No. 18 Ohio State. During the 2009 season, the Irish were 8-5 against ranked teams.
THE IRISH ALL-TIME: In this the 14th season of the Notre Dame women’s lacrosse program, Notre Dame brings a 137-88 all-time record (.608) into this week’s NCAA Tournament. That record includes a 56-49 road mark (.533). At home, the Irish are 67-31 (.684) with a 14-8 all-time ledger on neutral fields.
A WINNING LEGACY: Notre Dame’s 16 wins in 2009 are the most in a single season for the Irish, surpassing the mark of 15-4 set in 2006. Since the start of the 2006 season, the Irish are 63-29 (.685).
MAKING THE STOPS: Freshman goaltender Ellie Hilling made 12 saves in the 12-11, four overtime loss to Syracuse in the BIG EAST Tournament and was selected to the BIG EAST all-tournament team. For the year, she is 11-6 with a 9.16 goals-against average with a .423 save percentage in her rookie season. The 5-2 netminder’s goals-against average is currently the third-best single-season mark in the program’s history:
Goals-Against Leaders1. Jen White (2002) 7.492. Carol Dixon (2004) 8.573. Ellie Hilling (2010) 9.164. Jen White (2001) 9.255. Jen White (2003) 9.866. Carol Dixon (2006) 9.987. Erin Goodman (2007) 10.328. Erin Goodman (2008) 10.749. Carol Dixon (2005) 11.0410. Erin Goodman (2009) 11.11<>
10 OR MORE: Notre Dame enters the NCAA Tournament with an 11-6 record this season. The 11 wins make this year’s senior class of Rachel Guerrera, Gina Scioscia and Maggie Zentgraf the second class in the program’s history to have four 10-win seasons for their careers as they join the 2009 class. With at least one more game this season, the 2010 senior class is 50-24 for a .676 winning percentage. The 2009 seniors were 54-22 for a .711 winning percentage.
200 CLUB: Over the last five games, Gina Scioscia has 17 goals and 10 assists, giving her 115 goals and 103 assists for 218 career points at Notre Dame. Versus Ohio State (April 22), she became the fourth player in school history to reach 200 points for her career, joining Jillian Byers `09, Crysti Foote `06 and Caitlin McKinney `08.
MAGIC 100: With her first-half goal at Rutgers (April 24), junior midfielder Kailene Abt became the 11th player in the history of the Notre Dame women’s lacrosse program to reach 100 points for her career. Abt’s goal was the 79th of her career and moved her into 10th place on Notre Dame’s all-time goal-scoring list. She now has 81 goals to go with 21 assists in her three years. Abt is the second Notre Dame player to go over 100 points this season as she joins fellow junior Shaylyn Blaney who recorded her 100th point in the season opener at Hofstra.
RECORD SETTER: Junior midfielder Shaylyn Blaney is known for her goal-scoring ability as she already has well over 100 goals for her career. In the 15-5 win over Cincinnati on April 17, she put on a clinic at both ends of the field. Blaney scored three goals in the game while grabbing six ground balls, winning four draw controls and causing a Notre Dame school-record with seven caused turnovers versus the Bearcats. Blaney is first in goals for the Irish (40) and second in points (43). The talented midfielder gets in done at both ends of the field. She currently leads the Irish with 34 draw controls, is third with 36 ground balls and is second in caused turnovers with 36.
ONE-TWO PUNCH: A warning to opposing offenses. You may want to stay away from Notre Dame juniors Jackie Doherty and Shaylyn Blaney. The Irish duo are among the BIG EAST league leaders in ground balls and caused turnovers. Doherty, Notre Dame’s defensive whiz, leads the Irish in ground balls (49, 2.88 per game) and caused turnovers (37, 2.18 per game) to lead the BIG EAST in both categories. Blaney checks in with 36 ground balls (2.12 per game) and 36 caused turnovers (2.12). She is second in caused turnovers. Nationally, Doherty is 13th in ground balls and fifth in caused turnovers while Blaney is eighth in caused turnovers.
THE PLAYMAKER: Sophomore attack standout Maggie Tamasitis is third in scoring for Notre Dame with 17 goals and a team-high 26 assists for 43 points, all career highs. As a freshman, the playmaker had 15 goals and 20 assists for 35 points. In just 38 career games, Tamasitis already has 46 career assists to rank ninth on Notre Dame’s all-time assist list.
KEY CONTRIBUTOR: Sophomore Megan Sullivan has become a key contributor to the Irish offense this season. She already has career highs in goals (15), assists (5) and points (20). In the 11-9 win over Louisville on March 27, Sullivan had a career-high four goals versus the Cardinals.
A LAND MARK HELPER: When all-BIG EAST and All-American candidate Gina Scioscia set up Jenny Granger’s goal with 10:59 remaining in the first half of the May 1 game with Connecticut, it not only gave the Irish a 6-1 lead, it cemented Scioscia’s place in the Irish record book. The assist was the 100th of the Summit, N.J., native’s career, making her the first Notre Dame player to record 100 assists in her career. It also made her the first player in Irish history to score 100 goals in a career and have 100 assists. She now has 115 goals and 103 assists for 218 points in her career.
NOTRE DAME HONORS: Irish senior midfielder Maggie Zentgraf was honored by the University of Notre Dame with a Christopher Zorich Award on April 28 at the annual O.S.C.A.R.S. (Outstanding Student-Athletes Celebrating Achievements & Recognition Showcase). The Zorich Award was created to recognize contributions of Notre Dame student-athletes to the University and community at-large. The award holds the name of the two-time Fighting Irish All-American and 1991 graduate who went on to play in the National Football League for both the Chicago Bears and Washington Redskins before receiving his law degree from Notre Dame in 2002. Zentgraf is a senior captain with the Fighting Irish women’s lacrosse team who has been a tremendous role model for her teammates and fellow student-athletes during her four seasons at Notre Dame, becoming the second women’s lacrosse player to earn the Zorich Award. A two-time monogram winner, she is one of the University’s top student-athletes in the area of community service. Now in her third year as a member of the school’s Student-Athlete Advisory Council, she serves as that group’s liaison to the Notre Dame Monogram Board. A member of two NCAA Tournament teams (2008, 2009) and the 2009 BIG EAST Championship team, Zentgraf played 46 career games as a midfielder and attack player before her season came to an end on April 17, 2010, due to a knee injury. Known for her ability to motivate teammates and others to action, Zentgraf puts in countless hours of community service work in the South Bend community and her hometown of Charlottesville, Va. She has volunteered and interned at the Center for the Homeless in South Bend. Following Hurricane Katrina, she and her family spent 10 days in Biloxi, Miss., helping in the recovery efforts. A BIG EAST All-Academic Team choice in 2009, she works at a summer lacrosse camp for underprivileged kids in her hometown and through her church she has participated in trips to southwest Virginia to work on Habitat for Humanity projects.
DEFENSE, DEFENSE, DEFENSE: Over a three-game span from April 9 to April 17, the Notre Dame defense gave up just 10 goals (0 to Villanova, 5 to Syracuse and 5 to Cincinnati) for a 3.33 goals-against average. As a team, the Irish are 21st in the nation, giving up 9.53 goals per game.
HITTING THE CENTURY MARK: With three goals in the 15-5 win over Cincinnati, senior Gina Scioscia became the eighth player in Notre Dame history to reach 100 goals for her career as she joined midfielder Shaylyn Blaney who reached the “Century Mark” on March 20 at Boston University. Scioscia now has 115 career goals, 103 assists and 218 career points while Blaney has moved to fifth with 127 goals in her career. Blaney is now ninth with 143 career points for the Irish. The Stony Brook, N.Y., native has now scored 40 or more goals in each of her three seasons at Notre Dame.
SLAMMING THE DOOR: On April 5 in the 11-10 win at Loyola, the Irish gave up the Greyhounds’ final goal of the game with 4:38 left on the clock. Notre Dame would then shutout Villanova for the full 60 minutes and then added 30 minutes in the first half versus Syracuse. When Michelle Tumolo scored just 3:55 into the second half for the Orange, it ended Ellie Hilling and the Notre Dame defense’s shutout string at 98:33, the longest scoreless streak by the Irish in the program’s 14-year history.
SHUTOUT NOTES: Notre Dame’s 16-0 shutout of Villanova was the first in the program’s 14-year history. The shutout was the second this season at the Division I level as Penn blanked St. Joseph’s, 14-0, on March 17, 2010. Prior to getting the shutout versus Villanova, Notre Dame owned the BIG EAST record for fewest goals in a game as the Irish did it twice, giving up two goals in a 9-2 win over Rutgers on April 28, 2002 and then reduced the mark to one goal in an 11-1 defeat of Loyola on March 25, 2007.