March 5, 2007
Notre Dame, Ind. – Notre Dame women’s lacrosse player Jillian Byers (So., Northport, N.Y.) has been selected as the BIG EAST conference’s offensive player of the week for the week ending March 4. The sophomore attack standout helped the Irish to a 1-1 week versus No. 3 Northwestern and No. 16 Cornell.
In the two games, Byers a preseason all-BIG EAST and All-America candidate, scored six goals and added two assists for eight points. On Mar. 1, Byers scored three goals and added an assist as Notre Dame dropped an 18-10 decision to two-time defending champion, Northwestern. She helped the Irish bounce back at Ithaca, N.Y., on Sunday, March 4 with three more goals and another assist as the Irish handed Cornell a 13-9 loss. She also had one ground ball and eight draw controls in the two contests.
For the season, Byers leads Notre Dame in scoring with 15 goals and two assists for 17 points. She has grabbed three ground balls, has nine draw controls and three caused turnovers in four games.
In 23 career games for the Irish, Byers has now scored 69 goals with 26 assists for 95 points. She is already tied for eighth all-time with Courtney Calabrese `99 with 69 goals and her 26 assists tie her for eighth with Kathryn Perrella `00. Her 95 points rank her eighth on the all-time scoring list. She needs just five more points to reach 100 points in her career and will do it the fastest in the program’s history. The current mark is held by teammate Caitlin McKinney (Jr., Lafayette Hill, Pa.) who reached 100 points in 33 games.
The Irish are 3-1 on the season and ranked fifth in the IWLCA poll and seventh by Inside Lacrosse magazine. They will play just one game this week, traveling to Buffalo, N.Y., on Saturday, March 10 to face Canisius at 12:00 noon. The Golden Griffins are 2-2 on the season.