March 14, 2011
Notre Dame, Ind. –
Complete Release in PDF Format
– The Game: #14/#19 Notre Dame (2-3) vs. Boston University (3-2)
– Date/Time/Site: Tuesday, March 15, 2011 – 3:00 p.m. – Arlotta Stadium – Notre Dame, Ind.
– The Game: #14/#19 Notre Dame (2-3) vs. Cornell (2-3)
– Date/Time/Site: Sunday, March 20, 2011 – Noon – St. Paul’s School – Lutherville, Md.
– Internet: Gametracker will be available on the Notre Dame website at und.com for the Boston University game on March 15. There will be no live video for either game this week.
GETTING BACK ON TRACK: The Notre Dame women’s lacrosse team returns to action this week with a pair of games. On Tuesday, March 15, the Irish will play host to Boston University in a 3:00 p.m. game that will be played at Arlotta Stadium. On Sunday, March 20, Notre Dame travels to Lutherville, Md., to play a neutral-site game versus Cornell. That game will be played at noon at St. Paul’s School. The Irish will be looking to get back on the winning track after dropping a 13-8 decision to Ohio State on Thursday, March 10 at the Loftus Center. That loss dropped Notre Dame to 2-3 on the season and 0-2 at home during the 2011 campaign. The Terriers will bring a 3-2 overall record to South Bend and are in the midst of a two-game winning streak that includes home wins over Dartmouth (9-7) and George Mason (10-9 in ot). When the Irish travel to the Baltimore area to face Cornell, they will face a team that will have had a week off. The Big Red played twice last week (March 11 and 13), winning a 9-7 game versus Ivy League foe, Columbia before dropping a 14-8 contest to Loyola (Md.). Cornell is 2-3 on the year with a second win against Colgate and losses to Rutgers and Harvard on the schedule.
IRISH VERSUS THE TERRIERS: Notre Dame and Boston University have played just once in the all-time series with the Irish winning the only meeting. That came last March 20 in Boston where Notre Dame took a 7-6 double overtime win. Shaylyn Blaney (Sr., Stony Brook, N.Y.) and Maggie Tamasitis (Boyertown, Pa.) each scored twice in the win over the Terriers with Kailene Abt (Sr., Huntington, N.Y.), Jenny Granger (So., East Setauket, N.Y.) and Gina Scioscia `10 adding single goals. Scioscia scored the game winner with 38 seconds left in the second overtime period. Ellie Hilling (So., Rochester, N.Y.) had eight saves in the win for the Irish. Traci Landy led Boston University with a pair of goals while Annie Stookesbury, Danielle Etrasco, Hannah Frey and Catie Tiltin had single goals for the Terriers.
IRISH VERSUS BIG RED: Notre Dame and Cornell meet for the 10th time in the all-time series with the Irish holding a 6-3 edge in the first nine contests. The last time the two schools met was May 2, 2009 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament with Notre Dame winning, 11-9. The Irish are 4-1 against the Big Red at home and 2-2 at Ithaca, N.Y. This is the first time the two schools have met on a neutral field.
BUCKEYE BLUES: Notre Dame dropped a 13-8 decision to Ohio State at home on March 10 in a game that the Irish led 6-5 at halftime. Notre Dame’s offense went ice cold in the second half as the Irish scored just twice with the Buckeyes getting eight of the first nine goals in the second 30 minutes. Sophomore Betsy Mastropieri (Richmond, Va.) had a career-best four-goal game, scoring all four goals in the first half to put Notre Dame ahead by one goal at halftime. Senior Ansley Stewart (Alexandria, Va.) and junior Maggie Tamasitis added a goal and three assists each. Sophomore Jenny Granger closed out the goal scorers with a pair in the contest. Goalkeeper Ellie Hilling made four saves in the game.
THE IRISH ALL-TIME: Notre Dame enters its game with Boston University on Tuesday with an all-time record of 139-92 over the first 14-plus years of the program. That gives the Irish a .601 winning percentage. That record includes a 67-33 (.670) mark at home, a 58-51 (.532) record on the road and a 14-8 (.636) ledger on neutral fields.
HEAD COACH Tracy Coyne: Tracy Coyne is in her 15th season at Notre Dame and her 24th year in collegiate lacrosse. Coyne brings a 253-118 (.682) 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, 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 139-92 (.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 137-89 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, she is 1-0 all-time against Boston University and 6-3 against Cornell.
A SCORING MACHINE: Sophomore Betsy Mastropieri had a career-high, four-goal game in the 13-8 loss to Ohio State. As a freshman, Mastropieri played in 15 games and scored seven goals. This year, in just five games, she already has seven goals and one assist for eight points. Her previous best was a two-goal game on April 3, 2010 at Georgetown.
ANSLEY THE PLAYMAKER: Senior attack Ansley Stewart dished out a career-best three assists as part of her four-point game in the 13-8 loss to Ohio State. She is now fourth on the team in scoring with seven goals and five assists for 12 points. The four-point game was the third of her career.
SIX-POINTS: Senior midfielder Shaylyn Blaney equalled career highs for points (6) and assists (3) in the 12-10 win over Duquesne. The three-assist game was Blaney’s second of the season as she opened the year with three at California (2/11). The six-point afternoon matched a six-point game she had in the season opener with Hofstra in 2010. She also added two ground balls and three caused tunrovers versus the Dukes.
NICE STARTS: Sophomore midfielder Jenny Granger and junior attack Maggie Tamasitis have wasted little time in getting their 2011 seasons off to fast starts. Through five games, Granger already has scored 12 goals with four assists for 16 points. As a freshman in 16 games last year, she had 12 goals and three assists for 15 points. Included in her fast start is a career-high four-goal, two-assist, career-best six-point game at California in the season opener. Granger helped Notre Dame to a 12-10 win at Duquesne with two goals and an assist for three points. Leading the team in scoring is Tamasitis with five goals and a team-high 13 assists for 18 points. A year ago, she was econd on the team with 18 goals and 26 assists for 44 points. After getting career highs in assists (4) and points (5) against Northwestern on Feb. 19, Duquesne held the slick playmaker to just one assist in the 12-10 Irish win on Feb. 27. Versus Ohio State, Tamasitis had a goal and three assists for a four-point game. She is already eighth on the Irish all-time assist list with 59 for her career.
FAST STARTER: Freshman midfielder Kaitlyn Brosco (Shoreham, N.Y.) saw her four-game scoring streak stopped versus Ohio State on March 10. In each of her first four games with the Irish, Brosco had two goals. She is currently fifth on the team in scoring with eight goals and one assist for nine points on the season.
STREAKY IRISH: During the 2010 season two Notre Dame players – Maggie Tamasitis and Gina Scioscia `10 scored points in all 18 games. Scioscia finished her career with the second longest scoring streak in the program’s history – 37 games. Tamasitis has picked up where she left off last season and has now scored at least one point in each of her last 23 games. She is joined by tow others with point streaks entering the game with Boston University.
Maggie Tamasitis - 23 games (23g, 39a, 62 pts)Kailene Abt - 15 games (19g, 7a, 26 pts)Jenny Granger - 8 games (17g, 6a, 23 pts.)
MAKING THE STOPS: Sophomore goalkeeper Ellie Hilling has now started 23 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 2-3 with an 11.21 goals-against average and a .404 save percentage. She has played all but 17 seconds this season. Against California, Hilling turned in a career-high 13 saves while giving up a season-low six goals.
ROAD WARRIORS: With the win at Duquesne on Feb. 27, Notre Dame is 2-1 on the season away from home. A year ago, the Irish were 6-4 away from South Bend and have now had three consecutive seasons of at least six wins on the road. Since the 2008 season, Notre Dame is 20-11 (.645) on the road.
THE CAPTAINS: Senior midfielder Shaylyn Blaney (Stony Brook, N.Y.) and senior defender Jackie Doherty (Ellicott City, Md.) will serve as team captains of the 2011 Notre Dame women’s lacrosse team. Blaney served as one of the team’s captains in 2010 while this is the first season for Doherty. Blaney is a two-time second team IWLCA All-American and leads the Irish offense. Doherty guides the defense and was selected as a first team IWLCA All-American in her junior year.
PRESEASON HONORS: Three members of the Notre Dame women’s lacrosse team were selected by the BIG EAST coaches as members of the 2011 preseason all-BIG EAST team. Leading the group is Shaylyn Blaney who is a three-time all-BIG EAST selection (first team twice and second team once) in her career. She is joined by senior defender Jackie Doherty who was a first team choice last season. Joing those two is midfielder Kailene Abt who was a second team all-BIG EAST selection last season.
AHEAD OF PACE: Just five games into her senior season, midfielder Kaitlin Keena has already passed her goal output of the 2010 season. One of Notre Dame’s fastest players, Keena had four goals and eight assists for 12 points as a junior. In just five games this season, the speedster is sixth in team scoring with seven goals and two assists for nine points. Keena’s best year for the Irish was 2009 when she had 19 goals and 15 assists for 34 points.
CHART CLIMBERS: With three goals in the win against Duquesne, senior Shaylyn Blaney added to her fourth-place standing on Notre Dame’s all-time goals list with 134 for her career. She is just 18 behind third-place Caitlin McKinney `09 who finished with 152. With two ground balls against Ohio State, senior Jackie Doherty is fourth on the ground balls list with 136. With one caused turnovers against the Bckeyes, Doherty moved is fifth all-time with 77, moving past Maureen Henwood `03, who also had 75 in four seasons for the Irish. Blaney is now tied for third all-time with 83 caused turnovers.
FOR OPENERS: The Irish are now 13-2 all-time in season openers after defeating California, 20-6, on Feb. 11. Notre Dame is now 14-1 in road-opening games. The loss to Northwestern in the home opener on Feb. 19 dropped the Irish to 9-6 all-time in home openers.
HERE WE GO AGAIN?: During the 2010 season, Notre Dame saw 11 of its 18 games decided by two goals or less. Twice this season, the Irish have seen it happen. First was the 13-12 loss at Stanford on Feb. 13 and then Notre Dame pulled out a 12-10 win at Duquesne on Feb. 27. Last season, the Irish had four overtime contests, eight games decided by one goal and 11 decided by two goals or less. In overtime, the Irish were 2-2. They were 5-3 in one goal games and 7-4 in games decided by two 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. So far this season, the Irish are 1-1 in “close” games.
THREE FOR ANSLEY: Senior attack Ansley Stewart scored a season-high three goals in the win over Duquesne and has picked up points in three of the team’s four games this season. For the season, she has six goals and two assists for eight points.
RUNNING THE SHOW: With the graduation of attack standout Gina Scioscia `10, look for junior Maggie Tamasitis to run the Irish offense in 2011. Tamasitis finished second on the Irish in scoring last season with career highs in goals (18), assists (26) and points (44). The senior playmaker leads the team in scoring with five goals and 13 assists for 18 points. Tamasitis is eighth on the all-time assist list with 59.
SPEAKING OF ASSISTS: Senior Shaylyn Blaney is known for putting the ball in the net as she has 134 goals to her credit as the Irish prepare for Ohio State. This season, she has become the passer as she has a pair of three-assist games versus California and Duquesne. This season, Blaney has six assists after getting just three all last season. Her career-best season was nine as a freshman in 2008.
NEW KIDS: Head coach Tracy Coyne’s eight-member freshman class was ranked as the fourth-best freshman class in the nation by Inside Lacrosse in September. Three members of the class were ranked among the top 25 freshmen in the country – midfielders Kaitlyn Brosco, Margaret Smith (Westminster, Md.) and Grace Dooley (Chicago, Ill.) with a fourth midfielder, Molly Shawhan (Fulton, Md.) named to the magazine’s “Watch List,” that listed 40 other top women’s lacrosse players who will play their first Division I season this spring. Ranked ahead of the Irish in the team rankings were Georgetown, North Carolina and Maryland while Northwestern, Syracuse, Virginia, Duke, Penn State and Johns Hopkins rounded out the top 10. Brosco was listed as the number three freshman, Smith, seventh and Dooley, 23rd overall.