April 27, 2006
Notre Dame, Ind. –
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• The Game: #7/#7 Notre Dame (11-3/3-1) vs. #13/#14 Syracuse (9-5/2-2)
• Date/Time/Site: Saturday., April 29, 2006 – 12:00 noon – Moose Krause Stadium – Notre Dame, Ind.
HOME SWEET HOME: The Notre Dame women’s lacrosse team finally returns home to Moose Krause Stadium this Saturday, April 29 when the Irish play host to the Syracuse Orange in a 12:00 noon start. Notre Dame last played at home on March 25 and played five consecutive road games in the 34-day span. During the five-game road streak, the Irish were 3-2 with both losses coming to top five teams – Duke and Georgetown – by one goal. Notre Dame brings an 11-3 overall record and a 3-1 BIG EAST mark into Saturday’s contest against the Orange. Last weekend, the Irish snapped a two-game losing streak with a 13-8 BIG EAST win at Rutgers. They are ranked seventh in the nation in both the IWLCA coaches poll and the Bounce Entertainment/Inside Lacrosse poll. Syracuse brings a 9-5 overall record into the game and the Orange are 2-2 in the BIG EAST. They are coming off a 9-4 loss to Cornell on April 19 and have not played since then. The Orange have beaten Connecticut and Rutgers in conference play with the two losses coming to Georgetown and Loyola (Md.). Syracuse is ranked 13th in the IWLCA poll and 14th in the Bounce Entertainment/Inside Lacrosse poll.
NOTRE DAME VERSUS SYRACUSE: The two teams have met eight times in the all-time series with Syracuse holding a 6-2 edge. At Notre Dame, the Irish are 2-1 against the Orange while the Irish are 0-4 at Syracuse and 0-1 on neutral fields against the BIG EAST opponent. Last year, the two teams met on April 30 in Syracuse with the Orange taking a 14-9 win. Notre Dame’s last win in the series came on May 1, 2004, a 13-11 victory at Moose Krause Stadium.
FOOTE FOR TEWAARATON TROPHY: Senior Crysti Foote (Suffern, N.Y.) is one of 21 women’s lacrosse players nominated for the 2006 Tewaaraton Trophy that is emblematic of the top men’s and women’s lacrosse players in the United States. She becomes the second Irish women’s lacrosse player nominated for the top award, joining Meredith Simon `04, who was in the running for the 2004 award. Foote currently leads Notre Dame in scoring with 55 goals and 29 assists for 84 points. Her goal and point totals have set Irish single season records and she needs four assists to break the single-season mark in that category. She is currently second in the nation in goals and points per game. She is averaging 6.07 points and 3.93 goals-per-game in the NCAAs statistical rankings.
TERRIFIC TRIO: The Irish threesome of Crysti Foote, Jillian Byers (Fr., Northport, N.Y.) and Caitlin McKinney (So., Lafayette Hill, Pa.) is the most prolific single-season scoring trio in the 10-year history of the Notre Dame women’s lacrosse program. The triumvirate comes into this weekend with 128 goals and 66 assists for 194 points in 14 games (13.86 points per game). The second-highest scoring trio previously the 1999 trio of Lael O’Shaughnessy (69), Kerry Callahan (67) and Courtney Calabrese (37) that had 173 points. Foote (1st), Byers (t5th) and McKinney (8th) have three of the top 10 single-season, point-scoring marks in Notre Dame history this year.
GOAL-SCORING RAMPAGE: Through the first 14 games of the 2006 season, Notre Dame has scored 204 goals (14.57 goals per game). In five of 14 games this season, the Irish have scored 17 or more goals. A year ago, during the 2005 season, the Irish scored 145 goals in 15 games for a 9.67 goals-per-game average. As of April 24, the Irish were 10th in the nation in total goals with 204. In the NCAA statistics, Notre Dame ranked fifth in the nation in goals-per-game with 14.67 per game, trailing Northwestern, Duke, Denver and LeMoyne. The Notre Dame record for goals-per-game in a season is 13.56 (nine games) and was set in the program’s first season, 1997. The school record in a 15-game season is 13.33 and was set in 1999. The Notre Dame record for goals in a season was set in 2004 when the Irish scored 206. The Irish have already set single-season marks for assists (117) and points (321) this year.
VERSUS THE BEST: Seven teams currently ranked in the top 20 in this week’s IWLCA poll are on the Notre Dame schedule this season. The list includes No. 1 Duke, No. 2 Northwestern and No. 3 Georgetown. Those three are followed by Cornell (No. 10), Syracuse (No. 13), James Madison (No. 16) and Stanford (No. 19). This season, the Irish are 3-3 against those teams with the losses coming against Northwestern, Duke and Georgetown. Only Cornell, Loyola (MD), Northwestern, Duke and Georgetown were ranked in the IWLCA poll when the Irish faced them. All-time, Notre Dame is 17-41 versus teams ranked in the IWCLA polls.
A WIN AT RUTGERS: Notre Dame ended its two-game losing streak on April 23 with a 13-8 win at Rutgers. The Irish, who trailed 6-5 at halftime, outscored the Scarlet Knights, 8-2 in the second half on the way to the win. The trio of Crysti Foote, Jillian Byers and Caitlin McKinney combined for 10 goals and added seven assists on the afternoon. Foote (4g, 5a), turned in her third game of the season with nine or more points. Byers (3g, 2a) added five points and McKinney had three goals in the game. Sophomore Heather Ferguson (So., Newtown Square, Pa.) continued her strong play with two goals and Mary Carpenter (So., Rochester, N.Y.) added a goal and a strong presence in the midfield with five draw controls and three ground balls. The Irish out shot the Scarlet Knights, 34-25, in the game. Carol Dixon (Sr., Pennsauken, N.J.) made eight saves in the victory.
HEAD COACH Tracy Coyne: Notre Dame head coach Tracy Coyne is in her 10th season as the head coach of the Irish and is the only coach in the program’s Division I history. Coyne owns an 83-63 (.568) record at Notre Dame and is 197-89 (.689) in her 19-year coaching career, putting her just four wins away from 200. After starting the season 7-0, the Irish are currently 11-3 on the year with a 3-1 mark in conference play. In 2005, her Irish team lost seven games by three goals or less, including four by one goal on the way to a 3-12 record and a 1-4 ledger in the BIG EAST. 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 2-6 all-time versus Syracuse.
RECORDS WATCH: Just when you thought that there were no more records left for Crysti Foote to break, she is on the verge of taking over at the top in three more categories. She goes into the Syracuse game with 38 draw controls to her credit this season. The single-season record for the Irish is 40 and was set by current Notre Dame assistant Alissa Moser in 2001. The Tewaaraton Trophy candidate also has 29 assists on the season with the single-season mark being 32, set by Kerry Callahan in 1999. Foote also has 65 assists for her career and that ranks her third all-time behind Danielle Shearer (66) and Lael O’Shaughnessy (68) in that category.
TERRIFIC TRIO: Notre Dame’s high-scoring trio of Crysti Foote, Jillian Byers and Caitlin McKinney came into the week ranked second, 17th and 43rd respectively in points-per-game nationally. Through the first 14 games of the season, the trio has combined for 128 goals and 66 assists for 194 points. Foote leads the way with 55 goals and 29 assists. Byers is second with 41 tallies and 18 assists for 59 points while McKinney has 32 goals and 19 assists for 51 points. Byers has three game-winning goals, McKinney two and Foote, one on the season.
HOME RECORD: The Irish return home after five consecutive road games over a span of 34 days to close the season with a pair of home games. Notre Dame is currently 5-0 at home. The Irish have never gone undefeated at home in a season. The previous best record came in 2004 when the Irish were 6-1 at the Loftus Center and Moose Krause Stadium. The most wins the Irish have ever had at home in one season was 2002 when they went 8-2 on home turf.
FRESHMAN PHENOM: Freshman standout Jillian Byers has set Notre Dame freshmen records for goals (41), assists (18) and points (59) in a season. Her 59 points (with at least two games left this season) already ties her for the fifth-best, single-season point total in Notre Dame history. Besides the rookie goal, assist and point marks, Byers owns the freshman record for points in a game with nine points (5g, 4a) versus Lehigh. Her nine-point game also tied an Irish record for points in a home game, matching the nine points recorded by Kerry Callahan `99 (6g, 3a) on March 24, 1997 versus Stanford and Lael O’Shaughnessy `01 (6g, 3a) on March 28, 1999 vs. Connecticut.
Freshman Scoring Leaders: 1. Jillian Byers (2006) 41-18-59 2. Courtney Calabrese (1998) 38- 3-41 Lael O'Shaughnessy (1998) 27-14-41 4. Caitlin McKinney (2005) 28-12-40 5. Crysti Foote (2003) 27-11-38
THE ELUSIVE ONE: Sophomore Caitlin McKinney has passed her season-point output of last season (40 points – 28g, 12a) with 32 goals and 19 assists for 51 points in 14 games this season. So far this season, the speedy attack standout has recorded five games with five or more points. As a freshman, she finished the year by being named second team all-BIG EAST, the lone freshman on that team, and was a second-team all-Mid-Atlantic region choice. Following the season, McKinney was also named to the U.S. National Developmental Team.
GOOD START FOR THE IRISH: The 11-3 record for the Irish is the best in the program’s history after 14 games. The 2002 team that finished 13-5 was 10-4 after 14 games and the 2004 team that started the year 10-0 was also 10-4 after 14 games.
FOOTE PRINTS: Senior Crysti Foote, Notre Dame’s all-BIG EAST, all-American and Tewaaraton Trophy nominee continues to shatter Irish records. Through the first 14 games this season, Foote has already recorded career highs in goals (55), assists (29) and points (84). As of April 24, she was third in the nation in points to Denver’s Kristie Leggio ((89) and Lafayette’s Madalyn Booth (86) with both having played in 16 games. Foote’s 6.07 points-per-game rank her second in the nation to Mary Key of Johns Hopkins (6.08). Her 55 goals are fourth in the nation behind Heather George of Wagner (59 in 17 games) and Leggio and Jenny Hauser of Boston University who both have 57. Her 3.93 goals-per-game is second to Kate McHarg of Loyola who is first with 4.15. In the Irish record books, Foote ranks:
Career Goals: 1. Crysti Foote `06 142 2. Danielle Shearer `03 130 3. Lael O'Shaughnessy `01 122
Career Points: 1. Crysti Foote `06 207 2. Danielle Shearer `03 196 3. Lael O'Shaughnessy `01 190
Career Assists: 1. Lael O'Shaughnessy `01 68 2. Danielle Shearer `03 66 3. Crysti Foote `06 65
Career Draw Controls: 1. Alissa Moser `02 126 2. Tina Fedarcyk `02 96 3. Crysti Foote `06 95 4. Meredith Simon `04 91 5. Kathryn Lam `02 90
Single Season Goals: 1. Crysti Foote (2006) 55 2. Lael O'Shaughnessy (1999) 50 3. Meredith Simon (2004) 46
Single-Season Assists: 1. Kerry Callahan (1999) 32 2. Crysti Foote (2006) 29 3. Lael O'Shaughnessy (2001) 28 Meredith Simon (2004) 28 5. Danielle Shearer (2003) 26
Single-Season Points: 1. Crysti Foote (2006) 84 2. Meredith Simon (2004) 74 3. Lael O'Shaughnessy (1999) 69
Single-Season Draw Controls: 1. Alissa Moser (2001) 40 2. Crysti Foote (2006) 38 3. Mara Grace (1998) 37
She also is tied for 10th in caused turnovers with 40 in her career.
BIG EAST HONORS: Senior goalkeeper Carol Dixon was named the BIG EAST’s defensive player of the week for the week ending April 9. Dixon made 31 saves in two games while giving up just 17 goals in a 13-6 win at Ohio State (April 5) and an 11-10 loss at Duke (April 9). Dixon recorded nine saves in the win at Ohio State. Against Duke, Dixon recorded 22 saves, setting a Notre Dame record for saves in a game and a personal best. The previous Irish record was 20 and held by Tara Durkin `01 (2000 and Carrie Marshall `01 (1999). Dixon’s previous best was this season – a 16-save game on Feb. 26 in a 12-11 overtime win versus Stanford.
HELPING HANDS: The Irish added eight more assists in the win at Rutgers to give them 117 on the year (8.36) to set a single-season record for assists at Notre Dame. The previous record was 101 and set during the 2003 season. POINT MARK FOR THE IRISH: After 14 games this season, Notre Dame has already broken the school’s single-season point mark of 297 and set during the 2004 campaign. This year, the Irish have 204 goals and 117 assists for 321 points with two regular-season games left to play.
DIXON IN GOAL: Senior goalkeeper Carol Dixon has now started 46 straight games for the Irish since taking over the goalkeeping duties in the 2004 season. In that streak, Dixon has missed just 55:38 minutes of playing time. For her career, she is now 26-20 with a 9.76 goals-against average and a .490 save percentage. On the year, she is 11-3 with an 9.83 goals against and a .511 save percentage. Dixon also has a career-high 39 ground balls this season and her 108 career ground balls are ninth on the all-time list.
SUPPORTING CAST: While Notre Dame’s “Big Three” has carried the bulk of the offensive load for the Irish this season, several others have been valuable contributors to the Irish offensive attack. Sophomore Heather Ferguson has career highs in goals (15), assists (9) and points (24) and has 17 points over the last eight games. Junior Meghan Murphy ranks fifth in scoring with 13 goals and eight assists for 21 points and has at least one point in 11 of 14 games this season. Junior Kaki Orr (Darien, Conn.) is seventh in scoring with 13 goals and five assists while sophomore Mary Carpenter (Rochester, N.Y.) checks in with 11 goals and eight assists for 19 points and freshman Jane Stoeckert (Mendham, N.J.) has nine goals with nine assists for 18 points.
TAKING OVER: Senior goalkeeper Carol Dixon is now Notre Dame’s all-time leader in minutes played (2,857:34) and saves (446). She is currently among the top two in every category, accept one. Dixon in the Notre Dame record books:
Career Games Played: 1. Jen White `03 53 2. Carol Dixon `06 51
Career Wins: 1. Jen White `03 31 2. Carol Dixon `06 26
Career Minutes: 1. Carol Dixon `06 2,857:34 2. Jen White `03 2,789:15
Saves: 1. Carol Dixon `06 446 2. Jen White `03 432
Save Percentage: 1. Tara Durkin `01 .531 2. Jen White `03 .514 3. Carrie Marshall `01 .512 4. Beth Murray `98 .494 5. Carol Dixon `06 .490
Goals-Against Average: 1. Jen White `03 8.79 2. Carol Dixon `06 9.76
CARPENTER WATCH: Sophomore midfielder Mary Carpenter picked up a career-high seven ground balls in the Notre Dame win over Ohio State (April 5). She currently leads the team with a career high 41 ground balls and is fourth with 22 draw controls and second with 19 caused turnovers. Carpenter has a six-game scoring streak with five goals and four assists for nine points. Earlier this season, she had the first three-goal game of her career and first four-point game in the 17-15 win over Cornell.
IRISH STREAKS: Several Notre Dame players have scoring streaks going into the game with Connecticut. Some carry over from last season, the others just started in 2006:
Crysti Foote - 24-game streak (81-41-122)Caitlin McKinney - 17-game streak (40-20-60)Jillian Byers - 14 games (41-18-59)Heather Ferguson - 8 games (10-7-17)Mary Carpenter - 6 games (5-4-9)
Former Irish attack standout, Danielle Shearer `03 holds the Notre Dame record by scoring in 36 consecutive games between 4/25/01 and 5/1/03, getting 85 goals and 51 assists for 136 points in her streak. The streak was still active when her collegiate career ended. Foote’s 24- game streak is the fifth longest in Notre Dame history.
COMEBACK KIDS: Even with a 11-3 record to start the year, Notre Dame has had to come from behind in four of those games. Versus Stanford (2/26), the Irish trailed 5-1 at halftime, tied the game in regulation and took their only lead with the winning goal in overtime. Against James Madison, the Irish trailed 7-3 at halftime, but rallied for a 12-11 win. In the 13-9 victory versus Loyola (3/16), the Irish trailed 5-2 in the first half and were tied 7-7 at halftime. For the third time this season, the Irish trailed at the half against Rutgers (4/23), 6-5 and came from behind to win that game. The Irish have lost twice when they led at halftime – to Northwestern (3/19) and Duke (4/9).
GETTING BETTER EVERY DAY: Sophomore attack Heather Ferguson has quietly become one of Notre Dame’s top offensive players in her second season with the Irish. Early in the season, Ferguson got the job done coming off the bench to provide an offensive spark. Lately, it’s been as a starter on attack. In 14 games, she has career highs in goals (15), assists (9) and points (24) to rank fourth in team scoring.
RANCK AND FILE: Sophomore defender Becky Ranck (Radnor, Pa.) has stepped into a regular role on the Notre Dame defense and become one of the team’s top defenders. She leads the team with 22 caused turnovers and has 16 ground balls and 14 draw controls on the season.