Feb. 23, 2006
Notre Dame, Ind. –
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• The Game: #18/#17 Notre Dame (3-12 in 2005) at California (1-0 in 2006)
• Date/Site/Time: Fri., Feb. 24, 2006 – 3:30 p.m. (PST) – Memorial Stadium – Berkeley, Calif.
• The Game: #18/#17 Notre Dame (3-12 in 2005) at Stanford (1-1 in 2006)
• Date/Site/Time: Sun., Feb. 26, 2006 – 12:00 noon (PST) – Maloney Field – Stanford, Calif.
IRISH HEAD WEST TO OPEN THE 2006 SEASON: The Notre Dame Fighting Irish open their 10th season of intercollegiate women’s lacrosse action this weekend in California. The Irish will open on Friday, Feb. 24th versus the California Golden Bears in a 3:30 p.m. (PST) game. On Sunday, Feb. 26, the Irish close out their west coast trip with a visit to Stanford for a 12:00 noon (PST) game versus the Cardinal. Notre Dame comes into the opening weekend ranked 18th in the IWLCA preseason poll and 17th by Inside Lacrosse magazine. The Irish are coming off a 3-12 season that saw them finish with a 1-4 record in the BIG EAST. California opened its season on Feb. 18 with a 9-6 home win over Stanford. The Golden Bears were 12-7 in 2005. Stanford already has played two games, going 1-1 after opening with Oregon on Feb. 11 for an 18-9 win. Last weekend, the Cardinal dropped a 9-6 decision at California. They will play host to Ohio State on Friday night prior to their Sunday contest with the Irish. Last season, Stanford was 13-5 overall and won the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation title and finished the year ranked 17th in the nation.
IRISH VERSUS CALIFORNIA: The two teams have met twice in the all-time series with Notre Dame winning both contests. The Irish and Golden Bears met for the first time at Notre Dame last season with the Irish taking an 18-8 decision at the Loftus Sports Center. Crysti Foote (Sr., Suffern, N.Y.) led the way with four goals and two assists while Brittany Fox (Sr., Annapolis, Md.) added three goals and an assist in the win. The first meeting between the two teams came in the 2004 season opener at Berkeley, Calif., with the Irish winning a 12-11 overtime game.
IRISH VERSUS STANFORD: Notre Dame and Stanford have met six times in the all-time series with the Irish leading the series by a 4-2 margin. At Stanford, the Irish are 3-0 versus the Cardinal while Stanford owns a 2-1 mark over Notre Dame in South Bend. Last season, the two teams played at Notre Dame’s Loftus Center with Stanford taking a 6-5 win. Stanford got a goal from senior Nina Patano with 18 seconds left to snap a 5-5 tie to give the visitors the win. Crysti Foote had a hand in four of Notre Dame’s five goals with two goals and two assists on the afternoon. The last time the two teams played at Stanford was Feb. 29, 2004 with the Irish taking a 16-5 win.
HEAD COACH Tracy Coyne: Notre Dame head coach Tracy Coyne begins her 10th season as the head coach of the Irish and is the only coach in the program’s Division I history. Coyne owns a 72-60 (.545) record at Notre Dame and is 186-86 (.684) in her 19-year coaching career. Last season, Coyne’s squad was 3-12 on the year and 1-4 in BIG EAST play. The Irish lost seven games by three goals or less, including four, one-goal decisions. The year before, 2004, Coyne led the Irish to a 12-5 overall record and second place in the BIG EAST with a 4-2 record. She was selected the 2004 BIG EAST coach of the year. Notre Dame advanced to the NCAA tournament for the second time in the program’s history, dropping a 10-8 decision at Northwestern. 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. A 1983 graduate of Ohio University, Coyne has coached on the international level as the head coach for the Canadian women’s lacrosse national team since 1999. Last year, 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. Coyne is 2-0 all-time versus Canada and 4-2 versus Stanford.
NEW FACES: Head coach Tracy Coyne has two additions to her coaching staff for the 2006 season. Kateri Linville joins the Irish staff as assistant coach after two years as a volunteer assistant coach at the University of Virginia where she pursued a masters degree in sports psychology. During her two years at Virginia, the Cavaliers won a national title in 2004 and advanced to the title game in 2005. A 2003 graduate of the University of Delaware, Linville will work with the defense at Notre Dame. Also joining the Irish staff as a volunteer assistant is former Irish All-American Kathryn Lam (`02). Lam will work with the defense while she is working on here MBA at Notre Dame.
BEST IN THE NATION: Notre Dame’s freshman class has been rated No. 1 in the nation by Inside Lacrosse magazine in its November, 2005 issue. The story had this to say about the 10-player class: “Coming off a disappointing 3-12 season, the Fighting Irish have high hopes for 2006 with Jill Byers (Northport, N.Y.) leading a powerful class that includes immediate contributors Jane Stoeckert (Mendham, N.J.), Mary Veith (Silver Springs, Md.) and Alicia Billings (Potomac, Md.). Goalie Erin Goodman (Cortlandt Manor, N.Y.) adds strength for the future.” As part of the story, the magazine’s list of “Blue Chip” recruits listed Jill Byers and Jane Stoeckert among its top 10 incoming freshmen. The top 10 classes were: 1. Notre Dame; 2. Princeton; 3. Penn State; 4. Duke; 5. Virginia; 6. Northewestern; 7. Maryland; 8. North Carolina; 9. Georgetown; 10. James Madison.
FOR OPENERS: Notre Dame is 7-2 all-time in season openers after defeating Ohio University. The Irish are 7-2 in road openers and 5-4 in home openers after the dropping last season’s home opener to Northwestern.
TEAM CAPTAINS: Serving as captains for the Notre Dame women’s lacrosse team in 2006 will be seniors Carol Dixon (Pennsauken, N.J.) and Crysti Foote. For Dixon, it’s her second season as captain and for Foote, it will be her first.
PRESEASON HONORS: Three Notre Dame players were selected by the BIG EAST coaches as preseason all-BIG EAST team members. Making the list were seniors Crysti Foote and Lena Zentgraf (Charlottesville, Va.) and sophomore Caitlin McKinney (Lafayette Hill, Pa.). Foote and McKinney were unanimous choices. All three were all-BIG EAST selections in 2005. Foote was a first-team choice after scoring 34 goals with 16 assists for 50 points, finishing sixth in overall scoring in the conference. Zentgraf had a break out season for the Irish in 2005. She finished fourth in team scoring with 11 goals and eight assists for 19 points. She also added 27 ground balls (tied for fourth), 12 draw controls and 12 caused turnovers on the year. McKinney was the lone freshman selected to either of the BIG EAST all-star teams and the first Notre Dame freshman ever selected all-BIG EAST. She joined the Irish starting lineup in game one and went on to score 26 goals with 14 assists for 40 points to rank 11th among BIG EAST scorers.
FOOTE LOOSE: Senior attack standout Crysti Foote comes into her final season at Notre Dame looking to make her mark on the Irish record books. The 2006 All-America candidate opens the year with 87 goals and 36 assists to place her fifth all-time at Notre Dame with 123 career points. Her 87 goals rank her fourth in that category and the 36 assists are fifth on that list. A two-time all-BIG EAST selection (`04 and `05), she has been an IWLCA Mid-Atlantic region pick in every season of her career.
ALL-AMERICANS: Senior captain Crysti Foote was Notre Dame’s lone All-American in 2005 taking third-team Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches Association (IWLCA) honors. Foote led the Irish in scoring with 34 goals and 16 assists for 50 points. She became the seventh player in the program’s history to be named All-American. The list includes:
2004 - Meredith Simon (first team)2004 - Andrea Kinnik (second team)2004 - Abby Owen (third team)2003 - Jen White (third team)2002 - Kathryn Lam (second team)2002 - Danielle Shearer (second team)
Simon, Kinnik, Owen, Lam and Shearer (twice) also have been named to the Inside Lacrosse All-American team while Simon and Kinnik (twice) have taken womenslacrosse.com honors in the past.
SISTER ACTS: Notre Dame has seven sets of sisters in the program’s history and has an eighth on the way next season. Currently, the Irish have three sets of sisters on this year’s team. Heading the group are twin sisters, sophomores Heather and Lindsey Ferguson (Newtown Square, Pa.). They are joined by senior Crysti Foote and sophomore Julie Foote and senior Meghan deMello and her sister freshman, Lauren. Three other members of this year’s team have had sisters play at Notre Dame. Fifth-year senior goalkeeper Carol Dixon played two seasons (`01-’03) with her sister, Angela (`03). Freshmen Annemarie McGrath (Radnor, Pa.) and Kelly Gaudreau (Annapolis, Md.) were preceded by sisters Mary McGrath (`06) and Kristen Gaudreau (`04). Gaudreau also served as a volunteer assistant coach in 2005. Joining the sister act next season will be the Zentgrafs. Lena Zentgraf, currently a senior at Notre Dame with one more year of eligibility, could see action with her sister, Maggie Zentgraf, who signed a national letter-of-intent to attend Notre Dame in the fall of 2006. The sisters that started the tradition are Amy (`98) and Mara (`98) Grace. They each played in the first two seasons of the program.
CLOSE ONES: In a 2005 season the Irish would like to forget, Notre Dame lost seven games by a total of three goals or fewer. Four of those games were one-goal losses and two came in overtime. Notre Dame lost a pair of 10-9 overtime games at Vanderbilt and Boston College. The third 10-9 loss came at Johns Hopkins where the Jays scored with three seconds left. The fourth one-goal loss was by a 6-5 margin to Stanford. Three of the team’s other losses came by three goals – 11-8 at Cornell, 13-10 to Connecticut and 11-8 to Duke. In seven of the 12 losses, the Irish lost by a combined 13 goals (1.86 goals per game) and in the 12 losses for the season, they were out scored by a total of 42 goals (3.50 per loss).
OVERTIME NUMBERS: The Irish dropped a pair of games in 2005 in overtime, both by 10-9 scores to Vanderbilt and Boston College. In the nine-year history of the program, Notre Dame has now played nine overtime games, going 3-6 in those games. Remarkably, five of those nine overtime contests have ended with 10-9 scores.
SLAMMING THE DOOR: Fifth-year senior goalkeeper Carol Dixon took over as Notre Dame’s top goalkeeper in 2004 and has now started 32 consecutive games between the pipes for the Irish. Over the last two seasons, she has played 1,924:40 of a possible 1,938:00 minutes, missing just 13:20 of playing time. Last season, Dixon was 3-12 with an 11.04 goals-against average and a .447 save percentage. For her career, Dixon has played in 37 games and is 15-17 with a 9.74 goals-against average and a .480 save percentage. Last season, she led the team with 38 ground balls and added eight caused turnovers.
NEW KID ON THE BLOCK: Sophomore Caitlin McKinney (Lafayette Hill, Pa.) burst on the scene in 2005 as a freshman at Notre Dame and turned in one of the best seasons ever by an Irish rookie. McKinney started the year with four goals (the most ever by an Irish freshman in her first game) against Ohio University and never looked back on her way to 28 goals and 12 assists for 40 points. That point total put her one off the Notre Dame freshman record for points in a season that is held by Lael O’Shaughnessy (27g, 14a) and Courtney Calabrese (38g, 3a) as both scored 41 points in their first year at Notre Dame in 1998, the second year of the program. McKinney was a second team all-BIG EAST selection, the lone freshman on that team, and was a second-team all-Mid-Atlantic region choice. Following the season, the speedster was named to the U.S. National Developmental Team.
STREAKING IRISH: Four Notre Dame players finished the 2005 season on scoring streaks. Senior Crysti Foote ended the year on a 10-game point streak with 26 goals and 12 assists for 28 points … sophomore Caitlin McKinney had points in her final three games of the year (8-1-9) and scored points in 14 of 15 games on the season (28-12-40) … sophomore Mary Carpenter (Rochester, N.Y.) finished with points in three straight games (3-1-4). Senior Brittany Fox had points in 12 of her final 13 games (18-5-23), having a 12-game streak stopped in the final game of the season.
WELCOME BACK: Junior Meghan Murphy (Centennial, Colo.) is expected to return to action on attack for the Irish in the season opener versus California. Murphy injured her right knee in the third game last season at Cornell and was lost for the season due to knee surgery. Murphy had six goals and one assist for seven points in the three games that she did play.
SECRET WEAPON: Senior attack Brittany Fox proved to be one of Notre Dame’s top weapons off the bench in 2005. In 10 games off the bench, Fox had 15 goals and four assists for 19 points. In three games as a starter, she had three goals and one assist. She finished the year ranked third in scoring with 18 goals and five assists for 23 points. Included are two three-point games and a pair of games with three goals and one assist.
LOW-SCORING AFFAIR: When Notre Dame and Stanford combined for 11 goals in their April 10th game, it tied the Irish record for fewest goals combined in a game. On April 28, 2002, the Irish combined with Rutgers to score 11 goals (a 9-2 Notre Dame win).
VERSUS THE BEST: The Fighting Irish will face eight teams this season that are ranked in the top 20 in the IWLCA preseason polls. The Irish will face the preseason No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the nation when they face Northwestern and Duke. They also have Georgetown (No. 10), Syracuse (No. 13), Loyola (No. 14), Vanderbilt (No. 15), James Madison (No. 17) and Cornell (No. 18). Notre Dame finished the 2005 season with the ninth-toughest schedule in the nation and played six teams that finished in the top 20 including national champion, Northwestern. All-time, the Irish are 15-38 versus top-20 teams.
DEFENSIVE DEMONS: Notre Dame’s defense will be led by one senior, two juniors and a sophomore this season. Kerry Van Shura (Sr., Bel Air, Md.), Meaghan Fitzpatrick (Jr., Farmingdale, N.Y.), Kristin Hopson (Jr., Radnor, Pa.) and Becky Ranck (So., Radnor, Pa.) will start the season as the top four defenders for the Irish. Van Shura has 10 career starts, Fitzpatrick has 13, Hopson has 10 and Ranck none. Fitzpatrick was among the team leaders in ground balls and caused turnovers last season. Hopson and Ranck have played together before – at Radnor High School – where they were teammates on two Pennsylvania state championship teams (2001 and 2003).