March 19, 2008
Notre Dame, Ind. –
Complete Release in PDF Format 
• The Game: #11/#11 Notre Dame (5-3/0-1) vs. Loyola (3-5/1-2 in BIG EAST)
• Date/Time/Site: Sat., March 22, 2008 • 1:00 p.m. • Loftus Sports Center • Notre Dame, Ind.
• The Game: #11/#11 Notre Dame (5-3/0-1) at Hofstra (3-4/0-0 in CAA)
• Date/Time/Site: Tues., March 25, 2008 • 4:00 p.m. • James M. Shuart Stadium • Hempstead, N.Y.
• Internet: All Notre Dame home women’s lacrosse games (except Loyola) can be seen live via video streaming at und.com and you can follow the Irish via GameTracker on und.com for all home games and when available.
TWO GAMES IN FOUR DAYS: Notre Dame closes out its three-game home stand on Saturday, March 22 when the Irish play host to BIG EAST opponent, Loyola (Md.). That game will be played at 1:00 p.m. at the Loftus Sports Center. After taking a day off for the Easter holiday, Notre Dame will prepare to play its next five games on the road, starting Tuesday, March 25 when the Irish play the Hofstra Pride in Hempstead, N.Y. Notre Dame goes into Saturday’s game with the Loyola Greyhounds looking to even its BIG EAST record at 1-1. Overall, the Irish are 5-3 but after last Sunday’s overtime loss to Syracuse are 0-1 in conference play. Loyola brings a 3-5 overall record into the game and is 1-2 in the conference after defeating Connnecticut last Saturday, 21-15. Hofstra will bring a 3-4 record into the game on Tuesday. The Pride last played on March 19 when they dropped a 9-6 decision at home against Rutgers.
NEXT FOR THE IRISH: Following Tuesday’s contest at Hofstra, the Irish return to BIG EAST play when they travel to Storrs, Conn., on Saturday, March 29 to face the University of Connecticut Huskies. That game will begin at 12:00 noon at the Sherman Family Sports Complex.
NOTRE DAME VERSUS LOYOLA: The Irish and the Greyhounds have met twice in the all-time series with the Irish holding a 2-0 edge. The first meeting came on March 16, 2006 when the two teams played in CSTV’s Spring Fling in Wellington, Fla., with Notre Dame taking a 12-11 win. Last season, the two teams played in Baltimore, Md., with the Irish winning an 11-1 decision. Saturday’s game at the Loftus Sports Center is the first meeting between the two teams at Notre Dame.
NOTRE DAME VERSUS HOFSTRA: Tuesday’s game at Hofstra is the first-ever meeting between the two schools in women’s lacrosse.
SYRACUSE RECAP: Notre Dame and Syracuse opened the BIG EAST schedule on Sunday, March 16 with the Orange taking a 16-13 win in overtime. The Irish trailed 4-1, 7-3 and 10-7 at halftime only to rally for the first four goals of the second half to take an 11-10 lead. From there the score went back-and-fourth with the Orange getting the game-tying goal with 6:39 left in the game, making it 13-13. In overtime, Syracuse scored the eventual game winner just 32 seconds into the first overtime and then added two in the second overtime for the 16-13 win. Caitlin McKinney led the Irish with four goals and two assists. Freshman Shaylyn Blaney had three goals and one assist with Jillian Byers and Heather Ferguson getting two goals and one assist. Gina Scioscia and Maggie Zentgraf added Notre Dame’s other two goals. In the game, Notre Dame out shot Syracuse by a 35-27 margin. Erin Goodman made nine saves in the loss to the Orange.
DELAWARE RECAP: Notre Dame returned home for its first home game since Feb. 17 to face the Delaware Blue Hens and rolled to a 16-8 win at the Loftus Center. Caitlin McKinney (four goals), Jillian Byers (three goals) and Heather Ferguson (three goals) scored 10 of the team’s 16 goals on the way to the victory. Byers chipped in a pair of assists for a five-point game and sophomore Gina Scioscia set an Irish record for assists in a home game with five in the victory. Shannon Burke added two goals with Beth Koloup, Julie Foote, Kailene Abt and Jane Stoeckert scoring single goals in the contest. The Irish scored the first six goals of the game and led 9-4 at halftime. In the second stanza, Delaware would get as close as 10-6 before the Irish went on a five-goal run to lock up the victory. For the afternoon, Notre Dame out shot the Blue Hens by a 42-24 margin. Erin Goodman made nine saves in goal for the Irish while Jessica Cerveny had 18 saves in the Delaware goal.
HEAD COACH Tracy Coyne: Tracy Coyne is in her 12th season at Notre Dame and her 21st year in collegiate lacrosse. Coyne brings a 218-99 (.688) career record into this week’s games with Loyola and Hofstra. On Sunday, Feb. 17, she recorded her 100th career win at Notre Dame with the 16-4 win over Duquesne. As the only head coach in the Notre Dame program’s history, Coyne is 103-73 (.585). A 1983 Ohio University graduate, Coyne recorded her 200th career win at the end of the 2006 season with a 16-8 win over Cornell in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament. She has guided Notre Dame to three NCAA tournament appearances (2002, 2004, 2006), including the school’s first-ever NCAA finals appearance in 2006. In her first 20 years of coaching, Coyne was 23-5 in two seasons at Denison (1988-89), 91-21 in seven years at Roanoke (1990-96) and 98-70 in 11 seasons at Notre Dame. 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. Coyne also has coached on the international level as the head coach for the Canadian women’s lacrosse national team from 1999-2005. In June of 2005, 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 against Loyola and has never faced Hofstra.
200-POINT CLUB: Senior midfielder Caitlin McKinney became the second player in Notre Dame history to reach the 200-point mark in her career. McKinney racked up 10 points on the week, scoring eight times with two assists to give her 201 career points on 136 goals and 65 assists. He joins Crysti Foote `06 who finished her career with 237 career points.
BIG EAST OPENERS: The loss to Syracuse dropped the Irish to 5-3 in BIG EAST openers. Two of the three losses to start the conference schedule have been versus the Orange.
OVERTIME NUMBERS: Notre Dame’s overtime game with Syracuse on March 13 was the 14th overtime contest in the program’s 12-year history. In those games, the Irish are now 6-8. Last year, the Irish were 2-0 in overtime, taking a triple-overtime win versus James Madison (10-9) in the season opener on Feb. 18. In the second game of the year, on Feb. 24, at home, Notre Dame pulled off a 12-11 double overtime win against Stanford. In one-goal games, the Irish are 7-3 over the last two seasons and 14-17 in the program’s history.
SETTING THE MARK: Gina Scioscia cleared up some space in the Notre Dame record books with her five-assist game versus Delaware on March 13. The five assists is the most by an Irish player in a home game and breaks a mark held by 12 different players, including current teammates Caitlin McKinney and Jillian Byers. McKinney was the last to do it, getting four helpers on April 14, 2007 at Moose Krause Stadium against Georgetown. Scioscia shared the wealth, setting up four different players – Byers, Beth Koloup, McKinney (twice) and Kailene Abt. She had two in the first half and three in the second. Koloup’s goal was the first of the junior’s career. The Notre Dame record for assists in a game is six and was set by Kerry Callahan `99 on March 17, 1999 against Gannon.
MORE SCIOSCIA: As a freshman, Gina Scoscia had just four goals and four assists for eight points in 14 games. In her last three games for the Irish, she has recorded 12 points (3g, 9a), including back-to-back five-point games against California and Delaware. On the season, she leads Notre Dame in assists (12) while scoring six goals for 18 points.
FIRST TIMERS: Two Notre Dame players recorded the first goals of their careers in the games against Delaware and Syracuse. In the March 13 game against the Blue Hens, junior midfielder Beth Koloup scored her first career goal after being set up by Gina Scioscia to give the Irish a 6-0 lead in the first half. On March 16 against Syracuse, Maggie Zentgraf came off the bench to get her first career goal in the second half, converting a Scioscia pass with 13:33 left for a 12-11 lead. Another first came against Delaware with Shannon Burke had the first two-goal game of her career.
SCORING MACHINE: After averaging five goals per game through the first six games, Jillian Byers has been held to just five goals in the last two games, getting three versus Delaware and two against Syracuse. She currently leads the BIG EAST in both goals (35) and points (43). Her 35 goals continue to lead the nation and she ranks fourth in goals per game with 4.38 per game. Her six-goal game against Oregon was the fourth of her career and the eight-points was the second of her career with eight or more points (set career best with nine points on March 8, 2006 against Lehigh). This season, Byers has one four-point game, three five-point contests, one with six, one with seven and one with eight.
GET OUT OF THE WAY: With her five goals last week against Delaware and Syracuse, Jillian Byers continues to move closer to the top of the Notre Dame all-time goal-scoring list with 147 goals in just 44 career games. Senior Caitlin McKinney has moved into third on the all-time goal list with 136 in her career.
Goals 1. Crysti Foote (2003-06) 1612. Jillian Byers (2006- ) 1473. Caitlin McKinney (2005- ) 1364. Danielle Shearer (2000-03) 1305. Lael O'Shaughnessy (1998-01) 1226. Meredith Simon (2001-04) 1097. Kerry Callahan (1997-99) 838. Natalie Loftus (1999-02) 769. Courtney Calabrese (1998-99) 6910. Alissa Moser (1999-02) 67
GETTING INTO THE ACT: Senior attack Heather Ferguson ran her point streak to four games after getting a two goals and an assist in the loss to Syracuse. During the streak, she has eight goals and five assists for 13 point. Versus California on March 8, she equaled her single-game assist and points marks with a goal and three assists for four points. Against Delaware, Ferguson equaled her single-game marks for goals (3) and points (4) while chipping in another assist for four goals and four assists for eight points in the two games.
FIELD OF DREAMS: Arlotta Stadium will become the new home of the Notre Dame men’s and women’s lacrosse programs upon completion in June of 2009. Construction of the facility will begin in August of 2008. Conceptual plans suggest a 2,000 seat, lighted stadium that would include an artificial-turf field, locker rooms, restrooms and concession areas. The state-of-the-art facility is named after Notre Dame graduate John Arlotta, president and chief executive officer of Denver-based Coram, Inc. He and his wife, Bobbie, pledged the lead gift toward the stadium that will be built to the east of the Joyce Center as part of the University’s new athletics quadrangle. The Arlotta children – Mindy, Andy and Jon – have pledged and additional gift from the Arlotta Family Foundation toward the project. In addition to their generous donation, alumni and friends of the lacrosse programs have donated over two million dollars.
HISTORIC STADIUMS: During the 2008 women’s lacrosse season, Notre Dame will play in two of college football’s most historic stadiums. On March 8, the Irish will face California, in the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif. They will follow that up by hosting the 2008 BIG EAST Championship at Notre Dame Stadium, home of the Fighting Irish football team. That will occur on April 25 and 27 should the Irish make the conference tourney. The tournament will be held at Notre Dame Stadium due to construction on the Irish campus.
ON A ROLL: Senior Caitlin McKinney extended her school-best, point-scoring streak to 47 games with four goals and two assists in the Syracuse game on March 16. During her 47-game streak, McKinney has scored 116 goals with 54 assists for 170 points. Her streak started during her freshman season in 2005. Going into the game with Loyola, the following Irish players are in the midst of scoring streak.
Jillian Byers - 25 games (93g, 16a, 109 pts.)Gina Scioscia - 5 games (5g, 10a, 15 pts.)Heather Ferguson - 4 games (8g, 5a, 13 pts.)Julie Foote - 3 games (2g, 1a, 3 pts.)
MAKING THE STOPS: Junior goaltender Erin Goodman has picked up five wins this season, giving her 16 for her career. In 2007, she was 11-6 overall record and a 10.32 goals-against average and a .444 save percentage. She finished just one win behind Carol Dixon `06 for the most wins by an Irish goalkeeper in her first year as a starter as Dixon had 12 in 2004. Goodman set a BIG EAST record on March 25, 2007 when she held Loyola (Md.) to just one goal in an 11-1 Irish win, setting the league mark for the fewest goals given up in a game. Goodman now has four games in her career with 14 saves – vs. Cornell (13-7 win), vs. Yale (9-7 win) and against Loyola (11-1 win) last season and on March 13 versus Delaware. As a junior, Goodman is 5-3 with a 10.44 goals-against average and a .484 save percentage. She currently leads the BIG EAST with the .484 save percentage and her 78 saves on the year ties her for sixth in the nation.
OUTDOING THE OPPOSITION: Through the first eight games of the 2008 season, Notre Dame has out shot the opposition by a 295-210 margin or 36.9 to 26.3. The Irish have also outscored opponents by a 121-84 advantage – 15.13 goals-per-game to 10.5 per game.
RANCK AND FILE: Senior defender Becky Ranck (Radnor, Pa.) is tied for the team lead in caused turnovers this season. She is tied with fellow captain Caitlin McKinney, with both players having 14 on the season. For the year, the Irish have a 104-46 edge in caused turnovers.
BAD NEWS BILLINGS: Junior Alicia Billings saw her six-game point-scoring streak stopped in the 16-8 win over Delaware. She had scored a point in every game for the Irish this season, getting six goals with two assists for eight points. The speedy midfielder has already equaled her career high for goals with six.
BACK ON TRACK: After being held to just one goal over the previous three games, freshman Shaylyn Blaney found the scoring touch with three goals and an assist in the loss to Syracuse. She ranks third on the team in scoring with 16 goals and five assists for 21 points in the first eight games of her career.
VERSUS THE BEST: Notre Dame’s 2008 schedule features seven teams that are currently ranked in the top 20 of the March 10 IWLCA rankings. The list includes: #1 Northwestern, #5 Duke, #6 Syracuse, #7 Georgetown, #10 Stanford, #16 Oregon and #20 Vanderbilt. The loss to Syracuse gives the Irish an 0-1 mark against ranked teams.