Junior defender Meaghan Fitzpatrick was named second team all-BIG EAST for 2006.

No. 7 Irish To Play Host To No. 4 Georgetown In NCAA Quarterfinals on Saturday, May 20 At Moose Krause Stadium

May 18, 2006

Notre Dame, Ind. –

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2006 NCAA Tournament - Quarterfinal RoundThe Game:  #7/#6 Notre Dame (14-3) vs. #4/#4 Georgetown (14-3)Where:  Moose Krause Stadium • Notre Dame, IndianaWhen:  Saturday, May 20 • 1:00 p.m.Gametracker:  Follow the action live at und.cstv.com

IRISH FACE BIG EAST FOE GEORGETOWN IN NCAA QUARTERFINALS: The Notre Dame women’s lacrosse team will play host to the Georgetown Hoyas in the NCAA Quarterfinals on Saturday, May 20th. The game will be played at Moose Krause Stadium on the Notre Dame campus with game time set for 1:00 p.m. The Irish (14-3), the tournament’s sixth seed, advanced to Saturday’s contest with a 16-8 win at home over Cornell last Sunday afternoon (May 14). Georgetown (14-3), seeded third in the tournament, advanced to the quarterfinals with an 18-2 win over Monmouth on Sunday afternoon in New Jersey. The Hoyas cannot host this season due to NCAA penalties. Notre Dame will bring a 14-3 overall record into Saturday’s game, the best in the program’s 10-year history. Georgetown is also 14-3 on the season and captured the BIG EAST title this year with a 5-0 league record while the Irish were 4-1. Notre Dame is ranked seventh in the IWLCA coaches poll and sixth in the Bounce Entertainment/Inside Lacrosse poll. The Hoyas are ranked fourth in both polls. The winner of Saturday’s quarterfinal will advance to the semifinals of the NCAA tournament on Friday, May 26th at Boston University’s Nickerson Field versus the winner of the Dartmouth-Princeton quarterfinal tilt. That game will be played at 8:30 p.m. The other semifinal game is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. in Boston, Mass. The championship game will be played on Sunday, May 30 at 12:00 noon.

NOTRE DAME IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT: Saturday’s quarterfinal match with Georgetown will mark the second time in three NCAA Tournament appearances that the Irish have advanced to the quarterfinals. Notre Dame has been participated in the tournament three times – in 2002, 2004 and 2006 – over the last five seasons. The Irish advanced to the quarterfinals in 2002 after defeating Ohio State at home, they traveled to Princeton where they lost to the eventual NCAA champs, 11-5. In 2004, Notre Dame lost in the first round at Northwestern, 10-8. The win over Cornell improved the Irish to 2-2 in four NCAA tournament games, with both wins coming at home. Eleven members of this year’s team were on the Irish roster in 2004. Only goalkeeper Carol Dixon (Gr., Pennsauken, N.J.) has been a member of all three NCAA teams. She saw no action in the 2002 season, giving her a fifth year of eligibility this season.

Notre Dame NCAA Results2002 - at Notre Dame  11, Ohio State  7       at Princeton  11, Notre Dame 52004 - at Northwestern 10, Notre Dame  82006 - at Notre Dame 16, Cornell 8

IRISH VERSUS HOYAS: The two teams met on April 15 at Washington, D.C., with Georgetown taking an 11-10 sudden-death victory on Coco Stanwick’s fourth goal of the game just 13 seconds into the sudden-death period. All-time, the two teams have met seven times with Georgetown winning all seven games. The Hoyas last played at Notre Dame on April 16, 2005 with Georgetown taking a 14-6 victory. The Irish are 0-3 versus the Hoyas at Moose Krause Stadium. Georgetown has never lost a BIG EAST game in the six-year history of the league (34-0).

THE 2006 NCAA TOURNAMENT FIELD: Duke is the top-seeded team in this year’s tournament followed by Virginia, Georgetown, Northwestern, North Carolina, Notre Dame, Dartmouth and James Madison. The Irish faced six teams in this year’s tournament – Duke, Georgetown, Northwestern, James Madison, Cornell and Stanford and was 3-3 versus those six teams with wins against James Madison, Cornell and Stanford. Of the eight-seeded teams, only #2 Virginia lost in the opening round.

The Quarterfinals:

#8 James Madison (15-4) at #1 Duke (17-2)#5 No. Carolina (13-5) at #4 Northwestern (17-1)#3 Georgetown (14-3) at #6 Notre Dame (14-3)Princeton (12-5) at #7 Dartmouth (12-5)

FOOTE FOR TEWAARATON TROPHY: Senior Crysti Foote (Suffern, N.Y.) was named one of five finalists for the 2006 Tewaaraton Trophy that is emblematic of the top men’s and women’s lacrosse players in the United States. She is the first Notre Dame women’s lacrosse player to become a finalist for the prestigiou award. Foote currently leads Notre Dame in scoring with 68 goals and 34 assists for 102 points. She now has single-season marks for goals, assists, points and draw controls this season. She is currently tied for first in the nation with 4.00 goals-per-game and is second in points with 6.00 per game. Joining Foote on the list of finalists are: Katie Chrest, Duke, Kristen Kjellman, Northwestern, Nikki Lieb, Virginia and Coco Stanwick, Georgetown.

200 AND COUNTING: Notre Dame’s 16-8 win in the first round of the NCAA tournament versus Cornell (May 14) was the 200th career win for head coach Tracy Coyne. Now in her 10th season at Notre Dame and 19th in collegiate coaching, Coyne is 200-89 (.692). She was 23-5 in two seasons at Denison (1988-89), 91-21 in seven years at Roanoke (1990-96) and 86-63 in 10 seasons at Notre Dame.

RECORD TURNAROUND: Notre Dame’s dramatic turnaround from 2005 (3-12) to 2006 (14-3), a +10 differential, is the largest turnaround in NCAA women’s lacrosse history according to the NCAA record book. The previous biggest changes were seven-game turnarounds by American University (0-14 in 1996 to 8-8 in 1997) and Holy Cross (4-12 in 2000 to 13-7 in 2001). Notre Dame also turned the tables in BIG EAST play, going 4-1 this season and finishing second after going 1-4 in 2005 and finishing in fifth place.

HOME RECORD: The Irish come into Saturday’s game with Cornell sporting an 8-0 record at home during the 2006 season. The eight wins equal the most for the Irish (8-2 in 2002) at home and the 8-0 record is the best home mark since Notre Dame was 6-1 (.857) at home during the 2004 season.

IRISH KNOCK OFF CORNELL: Crysti Foote and Jillian Byers had four goals and two assists each and goalkeeper Carol Dixon (Gr., Pennsauken, N.J.) made 12 saves to lead Notre Dame to a 16-8 NCAA first round win over 10th-ranked Cornell on May 14. Caitlin McKinney added three goals while Heather Ferguson (So., Newtown Square, Pa.) and Kaki Orr (Jr., Darien, Conn.) scored twice and Brittany Fox (Sr., Annapolis, Md.) added a solo goal in the win. Noelle Dowd led the BIG Red with four goals in the game. Cornell took a 3-0 lead just over eight minutes into the game when Tracy Coyne took a time out to settle her team down. The Irish responded by scoring 10 of the next 11 goals to open a 10-4 lead early in the second half. The Big Red were able to cut the lead to 11-7 midway through the half, but that was as close as they would get as Notre Dame pulled away for a 16-8 win. The Irish out shot Cornell by a 29-26 margin. Maggie Fava made eight saves in goal for the Big Red. The win for the Irish was their second in NCAA tournament history with both of them coming at home.

GOAL-SCORING RAMPAGE: Through the first 17 games of the 2006 season, Notre Dame has scored 243 goals (14.29 goals per game). The 243 goals sets a Notre Dame single-season record, surpassing the previous mark of 206 that was set in 2004. Six times this season, the Irish have scored 16 or more goals in a game. A year ago, during the 2005 campaign, the Irish scored 145 goals in 15 games for a 9.67 goals-per-game average. As of May 15, the Irish were 8th in the nation in total goals with 243. In the NCAA statistics, Notre Dame ranked fourth in goals-per-game with 14.29 per game, trailing Northwestern, Duke and Denver. 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 16-game season is 13.33 and was set in 1999. The Irish have already set single-season marks for assists (133) and points (376) this year.

TERRIFIC TRIO: The Irish threesome of Crysti Foote, Jillian Byers 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 the game versus Georgetown with 155 goals and 76 assists for 231 points in 17 games (13.59 points per game). The second-highest-scoring trio was the 1999 group of Lael O’Shaughnessy (69), Kerry Callahan (67) and Courtney Calabrese (37) that had 173 points. Foote (1st), Byers (3rd) and McKinney (8th) have three of the top-10 single-season point-scoring marks in Notre Dame history this year. All three were unanimous first team all-BIG EAST selections and are candidates for All-American honors in 2006.

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Junior Meghan Murphy has career highs in goals (14), assists (9) and points (23) in 2006. She was one of three winners of Notre Dame’s Chris Zorich Award for her community service work.

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ZORICH AWARD WINNER: Congratulations to junior Meghan Murphy (Centennial, Colo.) who was named one of three winners of the prestigious Christopher Zorich Award on Wednesday, May 3 at Notre Dame’s annual O.S.C.A.R.S. awards program. The award was created in 1998 to recognize the contributions of Notre Dame student-athletes to the University and community at large. The award holds the name of Christopher Zorich, a two-time football All-American and 1991 graduate. He went on to play in the National Football League for both the Chicago Bears and Washington Redskins and received his law degree from Notre Dame in 2002. Murphy has been involved in community service work during her three seasons at Notre Dame. She organized the team’s community service work this season and has been involved with the YWCA Women’s Shelter Spring Cleaning, the Cavanaugh/Zahm Winter Carnival and several projects at the Center for the Homeless, including cooking and serving meals, spending time at Thanksgiving with the children and helping coordinate a shoebox assembly first as part of a class project and then as a Student-Athlete Advisory Council (SAAC) project that delivered several carloads of personal-use items for use at the Center. Working with children has been a focus for Murphy as she has been involved with holiday parties for kids at both the St. Joseph’s Pediatric and Memorial Hospital Pediatric wings, as well as, Notre Dame’s annual Christmas Pediatric Party.

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 86-63 (.577) record at Notre Dame and is 200-89 (.692) in her 19-year coaching career, putting her just two wins away from 200. After starting the season 7-0, the Irish are currently 14-3 on the year, setting a regular-season record for wins (13) and a single-season overall win mark (14). Coyne will be making her third trip to the NCAA Tournament at Notre Dame after making six (five with Roanoke and one with Denison) before coming to South Bend. She was named the BIG EAST coach of the year for Notre Dame’s turnaround season, giving her the honor twice (2004, 2006) in the last three years. 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 2-2 at Notre Dame in the NCAA Tournament and 0-7 all-time versus Georgetown.

FOOTE PRINTS: Senior Crysti Foote was a unanimous first team all-BIG EAST selection for 2006 and has been nominated for the 2006 Tewaaraton Trophy. During the 2006 season, she has shattered Notre Dame season and career records for goals, assists, points and draw controls. She goes into the Georgetown game tied for second in total points (102) nationally with Boston University’s Jenny Hauser and trails Denver’s Kristie Leggio (104 in 20 games). Her 68 goals are second behind Hauser’s 70. In the NCAA rankings, Foote is second in points-per-game (6.00), trailing just Johns Hopkins’ Mary Key (6.19). She is tied with Loyola’s Kate McHarg for first in goals-per-game with 4.00. In the Irish record books, Foote ranks:

Career Goals: 1. Crysti Foote `06            155 2. Danielle Shearer `03        130 3. Lael O'Shaughnessy `01      122
Career Points: 1. Crysti Foote `06 225 2. Danielle Shearer `03 196 3. Lael O'Shaughnessy `01 190
Career Assists: 1. Crysti Foote `06 70 2. Lael O'Shaughnessy `01 68 3. Danielle Shearer `03 66
Career Draw Controls: 1. Alissa Moser `02 126 2. Crysti Foote `06 99 3. Tina Fedarcyk `02 96 4. Meredith Simon `04 91 5. Kathryn Lam `02 90
Single Season Goals: 1. Crysti Foote (2006) 68 2. Lael O'Shaughnessy (1999) 50 3. Meredith Simon (2004) 46
Single-Season Assists: 1. Crysti Foote (2006) 34 2. Kerry Callahan (1999) 32 3. Lael O'Shaughnessy (2001) 28 Meredith Simon (2004) 28
Single-Season Points: 1. Crysti Foote (2006) 102 2. Meredith Simon (2004) 74 3. Jillian Byers (2006) 73
Single-Season Draw Controls: 1. Crysti Foote (2006) 42 2. Alissa Moser (2001) 40 3. Mara Grace (1998) 37

She also is 10th in caused turnovers with 44 in her career.

FRESHMAN PHENOM: Freshman standout Jillian Byers has set Notre Dame freshmen records for goals (51), assists (22) and points (73) in a season. Her 73 points are the third-best single-season point total in the program’s history, trailing Crysti Foote (102 in 2006) and Meredith Simon (74 in 2004). Her 51 goals are the second-best total in the program’s history behind Foote’s 68 this year. Byers was selected as a unanimous first team all-BIG EAST selection in her freshman year, a first for any Notre Dame rookie. 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)             51-22-73 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
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Caitlin McKinney was a unanimous first team all-BIG EAST selection this season after scoring 36 goals and 20 assists for 56 points, all personal career highs.

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THE ELUSIVE ONE: Sophomore Caitlin McKinney capped her outstanding rookie season by being selected a unanimous first team all-BIG EAST choice in 2006 after taking second team honors a year ago. McKinney has career highs in goals (36), assists (20) and points (56) in 17 games this season. The Irish speedster has scored in every game this year and has four or more points in eight different games. After just two seasons at Notre Dame, McKinney has 64 goals and 32 assists for 96 points. She is tied for ninth on the all-time goals list, seventh in assists and seventh in points. She needs just four points to become the youngest player and the seventh overall in Notre Dame history to go over 100 points in a season.

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 blossomed into a clutch scorer and playmaker for the Irish with career highs in goals (22), assists (11) and points (33) and has 26 points over the last 11 games. Her three-goal, one-assist game against Syracuse gave her a career best in goals and a the four-point game equaled a career high. Junior Meghan Murphy ranks fifth in scoring with 14 goals and nine assists for 23 points and has at least one point in 13 of 17 games this season. Junior Kaki Orr (Darien, Conn.) is sixth in scoring with 15 goals and six assists while sophomore Mary Carpenter (Rochester, N.Y.) checks in with 11 goals and nine assists for 20 points and freshman Jane Stoeckert (Mendham, N.J.) has 10 goals with nine assists for 19 points.

LIVING ON THE EDGE: Notre Dame’s last two regular-season games went right down to the wire, giving the Irish a pair of one-goal wins. Versus Vanderbilt (May 7), the Irish trailed 11-10 with less than two minutes left. Jillian Byers scored twice in the final 1:47 (game winner with 18 seconds left) to give the Irish the 12-11 win. A week earlier, Meghan Murphy scored as time expired to give the Irish an 11-10 win over Syracuse. The Irish have been involved in six games decided by one goal this season and are 4-2 in “close” ones. The losses have been by 11-10 scores to both Duke and Georgetown (loss to the Hoyas was in sudden-death overtime), while the Irish have three 12-11 wins – versus Vanderbilt, Stanford (in sudden death) and James Madison – and an 11-10 win over Syracuse.Notre Dame’s 11-10 win over Syracuse was the fifth one-goal decision that the Irish were involved in this season. That gives the Irish a 3-2 mark in “close” ones. They have lost twice by 11-10 scores – to Duke (April 9) and Georgetown (April 15). The Irish also have two 12-11 wins on the year – versus Stanford, 12-11 in overtime, and against James Madison.

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Goalkeeper Carol Dixon needs just seven saves to set Notre Dame’s single-season save mark with 177 for the year.

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TAKING OVER: Senior goalkeeper Carol Dixon is now Notre Dame’s all-time leader in games played (54), minutes played (3,037:34) and saves (477). She is currently among the top two in every category, accept one. Dixon in the Notre Dame record books:

Career Games Played: 1. Carol Dixon `06        54 2. Jen White `03          53
Career Wins: 1. Jen White `03 31 2. Carol Dixon `06 29
Career Minutes: 1. Carol Dixon `06 3,037:34 2. Jen White `03 2,789:15
Saves: 1. Carol Dixon `06 477 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 .491
Goals-Against Average: 1. Jen White `03 8.79 2. Carol Dixon `06 9.76
Games (Season) 1. Jen White (2002) 18 2. Carol Dixon (2006) 17 Carol Dixon (2004) 17 4. Five with 15
Saves (Season) 1. Tara Durkin (2000) 176 2. Carol Dixon (2006) 170 3. Jen White (2002) 164
Wins (Season) 1. Carol Dixon (2006) 14 2. Jen White (2002) 13
Minutes (Season) 1. Jen White (2002) 1,097:45 2. Carol Dixon (2004) 1,022:32 3. Carol Dixon (2006) 991:54
Goals-Against Average (Season) 1. Jen White (2002) 7.49 2. Carol Dixon (2004) 8.57 3. Jen White (2001) 9.25 4. Carol Dixon (2006) 9.80

DIXON IN GOAL: Senior goalkeeper Carol Dixon has now started 49 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 29-20 with a 9.76 goals-against average and a .491 save percentage. On the year, she is 14-3 with an 9.80 goals against and a .512 save percentage. Dixon also has a career-high 44 ground balls this season and her 113 career ground balls are ninth on the all-time list.

IRISH RECORD: The 14-3 record for the Irish is the best in the program’s history after 17 games. The 2002 team that finished 13-5 was 13-4 after 17 games and the 2004 team that started the year 10-0 was 12-5 after 17 games. This season’s 13-win regular season mark is the best in the program’s history and the 14 wins are the most ever by a Notre Dame team. The Irish will play in their 18th game when they face Georgetown and that’s the most games the Irish have ever played in a season.

HELPING HANDS: The Irish added seven more assists in the win versus Cornell to give them 133 on the year (7.82) to set a single-season record for assists at Notre Dame. The previous record was 101 and set during the 2003 season.

VERSUS THE BEST: Seven teams currently ranked in the top 20 in this week’s IWLCA poll were on the Notre Dame schedule this season. The list includes No. 1 Northwestern, No. 3 Duke and No. 4 Georgetown (twice). Those three are followed by two games with Cornell (No. 10) , James Madison (No. 13), Stanford (No. 16) and Syracuse (No. 18). This season, the Irish are 5-3 against those teams with two wins coming against Cornell and one versus James Madison, Stanford and Syracuse. All-time, Notre Dame is 19-41 versus teams ranked in the IWCLA polls.

HAMMER TIME: Sophomore midfielder Mary Carpenter (Rochester, N.Y.) was selected second team all-BIG EAST for the 2006 season after turning in a strong year at midfield for the Irish. In 17 games, Carpenter had career highs in goals (11), assists (9), points (20), ground balls (48), draw controls (29) and caused turnovers (23). She led the team in ground balls, tied for third in draw controls and was second in caused turnovers. She picked up a career-high seven ground balls in the Notre Dame win over Ohio State (April 5). Carpenter had a six-game scoring streak (5-4-9) snapped by Syracuse (April 29). 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.

GIVING THEM FITZ(PATRICK): Junior defensive standout Meaghan Fitzpatrick was selected second team all-BIG EAST after helping guide Notre Dame to its second NCAA appearance. Fitzpatrick has turned in career highs with 38 ground balls, nine draw controls and 19 caused turnovers. The top match-up defender for the Irish, Fitzpatrick has put the clamps on the opposition’s top scorers all season long.

IRISH STREAKS: Several Notre Dame players have scoring streaks going into the game with Cornell. Some carry over from last season, the others just started in 2006:

Crysti Foote - 27-game streak (94-46-140)Caitlin McKinney - 20-game streak  (44-21-65)Jillian Byers - 17 games (51-22-73)Heather Ferguson - 11 games (17-9-26)

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 27- game streak is tied for fourth longest with Lael O’Shaughnessy (`01) who went 27 games between April 4, 1998 and May 5, 2001, recording 78 goals and 29 assists for 107 points.