March 26, 2004
Notre Dame, Ind, – The third-ranked Notre Dame women’s lacrosse teamcontinued its best start in school history as the Irish recorded an 18-11 victory over Virginia Tech in its BIG EAST opener. Junior Jackie Bowers (Springfield, Pa.) scored a career-high five goals to pace a balanced scoring attack for the Irish.
The win improved Notre Dame to 6-0 on the season and 1-0 in BIG EAST play, while Virginia Tech falls to 3-3 and 1-2 in league play. The win was the 10th straight (a school record) dating back to last season when Notre Dame closed out the 2003 campaign with four straight victories.
Notre Dame’s top two scorers, seniors Meredith Simon (Flemington, N.J.) and Abby Owen (Briarcliff Manor, N.Y.) continued their impressive play. Simon finished with four goals and three assists, while Owen tallied three goals and dished off an assist.
Virginia Tech scored first in the contest when Kate Threadgold netted the first of her team-high five scores with 25 seconds into the contest. The Irish responded with four unanswered goals to on scores by Lauren Fischer (Pittsburgh, Pa.), Crysti Foote (Suffern, N.Y.), Simon and Bowers.
The Hokies pulled to within a goal (4-3) at the 22:35 mark, but Notre Dame scored four of the game’s next five goals to build an 8-4 haltime advantage. The Irish finished off the first half by scoring three unanswered scores in the final 1:49.
Threadgold opened up the scoring for Virgnia Tech as the Hokies pulled to within 8-5 2:03 into the second half, but Notre Dame broke open the game with a 5-0 run in just over four minutes as the Irish led 13-5 with 22:40 remaining in the contest. Senior Kassen Delano (Alexandria, Va.) scored the first goal of the half for the Irish, while Foote added her second goal of the contest 48 seconds later. Owen connected on her second score off an assist from Simon (the second of her three assists), before Simon and Bowers finished off the five-goal barrage.
From that point in the contest, the two teams traded goals as the Irish defeated the Hokies for the fourth time in as many meeting between the two schools.
Junior goalkeeper Carol Dixon (Pennsauken, N.J.) continued her dominance in goal as she played all 60 minutes and finished with 11 saves. Hokie goalkeeper Jamie McGraw also went the distance in the net and finished with 11 saves.
Game Summary: 1 2 – F Virginia Tech (3-3, 1-2) 4 7 – 11 #3 Notre Dame (6-0, 1-0) 8 10 – 18
First Half Scoring VT 29:35 0-1 Kate Threadgold (Gail Decker0 ND 28:38 1-1 Lauren Fischer ND 28:08 2-1 Crysti Foote 9Meredith Simon0 ND 26:17 3-1 Meredith Simon ND 25:51 4-1 Jackie Bowers Kassen Delano VT 24:01 4-2 Stephanie Jones Lindsey Welch VT 22:35 4-3 Lindsey Welch ND 17:55 5-3 Meredith Simon – 2 VT 15:29 5-4 Kate Threadgold – 3 Lindsey Welch ND 1:49 6-4 Lauren Fischer – 2 ND 1:31 7-4 Jackie Bowers – 2 Kristen Gaudreau ND 0:13 8-4 Abby Owen
Second Half Scoring Team Time Score Goal Assist VT 27:57 8-5 Kate Threadgold – 3 ND 26:43 9-5 Kassen Delano Lauren Fischer ND 26:12 10-5 Crysti Foote – 2 Abby Owen ND 25:10 11-5 Abby Owen – 2 Meredith Simon – 2 ND 23:12 * 12-5 Meredith Simon – 3 ND 22:40 13-5 Jackie Bowers – 3 VT 20:29 13-6 Kate Threadgold – 4 VT 18:56 * 13-7 Lindsey Welch – 2 ND 15:33 14-7 Jackie Bowers – 4 Crysti Foote VT 13:34 * 14-8 Britt Faulkner ND 13:24 15-8 Abby Owen – 3 VT 11:35 15-9 Lindsey Welch – 3 VT 10:13 15-10 Lindsey Welch – 4 Stephanie Jones ND 8:28 16-10 Mary McGrath Meredith Simon ND 6:31 17-10 Meredith Simon – 4 VT 4:05 17-11 Kate Threadgold – 5 ND 2:28 * 18-11 Jackie Bowers – 5
* denotes free position goal
Goalkeepers VT: Jamie McGraw (60:00; 18 goals against; 11 saves) ND: Carol Dixon (60:00 min; 11 goals against; 11 saves)