March 15, 2003
Chesnut Hill, Mass. – The Notre Dame women’s lacrosse team defeated Boston College 13-12 in the BIG EAST opener for both teams on Saturday morning. The Irish improve to 2-1 overall on the season after winning their second consecutive road game; the team earned a 19-4 win at Ohio University on Tuesday. Boston College falls to 1-2 overall after dropping its second consecutive one-goal game. The game marked the fifth meeting in the series between these two schools with Notre Dame winning all five contests.
After having two four-goal leads in the game, Notre Dame withstood several Boston College goal streaks to come away with the one-goal victory. Down 12-9, the Eagles tied the game at 12 with one of their streaks, only to see Notre Dame’s Danielle Shearer (Sr., Hampstead, Md.) score the game-winning goal with 2:44 remaining in the game.
The final goal was one of Shearer’s six points on the day, leading the Notre Dame attack. The All-American candidate scored two goals and added four assists against Boston College at Alumni Stadium.
Notre Dame also received multiple-point efforts from three other players. Eleanor Weille (Sr., Garden City, N.Y.) contributed five points to the Irish offense (three goals and two assists) and junior Abby Owen (Briarcliff Manor, N.Y.) added four more points with a pair of goals and two assists. Lauren Fischer (Jr., Pittsburgh, Pa.) provided Notre Dame with a two-goal game versus the Eagles.
The game was one characterized by exchanges of goal spurts between the two squads. The Irish managed to score four unanswered goals at two different points in the game, while the Eagles came up with three similar streaks of three goals.
Notre Dame jumped to a 4-0 lead within the first six minutes of the game, including two goals scored in the first 33 seconds. Boston College got on the board with a free-position goal from Carley St. Lucia at 22:57, starting a rally by the Eagles. After calling a timeout while still trailing 4-1, the Eagles outscored the Irish 5-2 over the next 18 minutes, tying the game at 6-6.
The Irish broke the tie in a flurry of three goals to end the first half with a 9-6 lead. The goals were scored by Weille at 3:27, Shearer at 1:51, and finally Owen with 18 seconds remaining before halftime. Notre Dame went on to score the first goal of the second half to regain a four-goal lead.
Boston College responded to Notre Dame’s goal surge by scoring the next three goals of the game. The goals came less than three minutes apart and cut the Irish lead to one goal, 10-9. Freshman Crysti Foote (Suffern, N.Y.) stopped Boston College’s momentum by scoring her lone goal of the game at 20:01 of the second half. Anne Riley (Sr., Marblehead, Mass.) followed with her only goal on the day at 17:19 to give Notre Dame a 12-9 lead.
The Eagles answered and tied the game with their final spree of three unanswered goals. St. Lucia scored her fifth and final goal of the game to start the goal streak at 6:58. Susie Breaznell forced the 12-12 tie for Boston College by scoring two of her four goals at 5:43 and 3:27, respectively, before Shearer scored the decisive goal.
Senior Jen White (Annapolis, Md.) played the full 60 minutes in goal for the Irish. White faced 20 shots on goal and made eight saves.
The 11th-ranked Irish return to action on Tuesday, March 18, versus Yale at 10:00 a.m. The game will be played in Orlando, Fla.
— summary follows —
Game Summary
First-Half Scoring
Team Time Score Goal Assist
ND 29:50 1-0 Dixon Shearer
ND 29:27 2-0 Weille Shearer
ND 28:07 3-0 Weille Kinnick
ND 24:47 4-0 Fischer Owen
BC 22:57 4-1* St. Lucia
BC 21:43 4-2 Breaznell
ND 18:55 5-2 Fischer Weille
BC 16:08 5-3 Bracken O’Neill
ND 14:59 6-3 Owen Shearer
BC 14:09 6-4 O’Neill Legath
BC 12:20 6-5 St. Lucia Legath
BC 4:28 6-6 St. Lucia
ND 3:27 7-6 Weille Shearer
ND 1:51 8-6 Shearer
ND 0:18 9-6 Owen Weille
Second-Half Scoring
Team Time Score Goal Assist
ND 25:22 10-6 Simon
BC 24:20 10-7* O’Neill
BC 22:49 10-8* Breaznell
BC 21:33 10-9 St. Lucia
ND 20:01 11-9 Foote
ND 17:19 12-9 Riley Owen
BC 6:58 12-10 St. Lucia Breaznell
BC 5:43 12-11 Breaznell
BC 3:27 12-12 Breaznell
ND 2:44 13-12 Shearer
* indicates free position goal
Scoring: 1st 2nd Final
Notre Dame (2-1, 1-0) 9 4 13
Boston College (1-2, 0-1) 6 6 12
Goalkeepers ND: Jen White (60:00 minutes, 12 goals against; 8 saves)
BC: Tara McKennett (37:00 minutes, 7 goals against; 6 saves), Michelle Lawson (23:00 minutes, 6 goals against; 4 saves)
Shots on Goal
ND 30
BC 22
Free Position Shots
ND 2
BC 6
Ground Balls
ND 18
BC 16
Draw Controls
ND 8
BC 17
Turnovers
ND 10
BC 12
— ND —