May 5, 2004
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IRISH CLOSE REGULAR SEASON VERSUS VANDERBILT: For the third consecutive season the Notre Dame women’s lacrosse team will end its regular-season schedule versus the Vanderbilt University Commodores. This year’s contest will be played on Saturday, May 8 at 1:00 p.m. (EST) at Moose Krause Stadium on the Notre Dame campus. The Irish come into their only game this weekend with an 11-4 overall record and are 13th in the most recent IWLCA poll. At stake for the Irish is an at-large bid to the NCAA women’s lacrosse tournament that will start on Thursday, May 13 at campus sites. Notre Dame snapped a four-game losing streak on May 1 with a 13-11 win versus Syracuse. The win gave Notre Dame a share of second place in the BIG EAST with a 4-2 league mark. Vanderbilt plays twice this week. On Thursday, May 6, the Commodores play at Northwestern with the winner of that game clinching the American Lacrosse Conference’s (ALC) automatic NCAA bid. Vanderbilt is 9-4 on the year overall and 4-1 in league play. The Commodores have not played since April 24 when they lost a 14-13 double-overtime decision at Hofstra.
SENIOR DAY: Notre Dame will honor it’s graduating class of 2004 prior to the start of Saturday’s tilt with Vanderbilt. The class of eight includes: Kassen Delano (Alexandria, Va.), Lauren Fischer (Pittsburgh, Pa.), Kristen Gaudreau (Annapolis, Md.), Bridget Higgins (Wilton, Conn.), Andrea Kinnik (West Chester, Pa.), Mia Novic (Murrysville, Pa.), Abby Owen (Briarcliff Manor, N.Y.) and Meredith Simon (Flemington, N.J.).
IRISH VERSUS COMMODORES: Notre Dame and Vanderbilt got their women’s lacrosse programs started within a year of each other (Notre Dame, 1997 and Vanderbilt in 1996). They have met every year since 1997 with the Commodores holding a 5-2 edge in the all-time series. Vanderbilt won the first five meetings before the Irish broke through with 10-9 overtime win in May of 2002. Last season, the Irish ended the season on May 1 with a 22-11 win at Vanderbilt. At Notre Dame, the Irish are 1-2; in Nashville, Notre Dame is 1-3. The last time that Vanderbilt won at Notre Dame was on April 2, 2000, a 10-6 win.
HEAD COACH Tracy Coyne: Notre Dame head coach Tracy Coyne is in her eighth season with the Irish and is the only coach the program has ever known. Coyne owns a 68-47 (.591) record at Notre Dame and is 182-73 (.714) in her 17-year coaching career. She is 2-5 versus Vanderbilt since taking over at Notre Dame. In 2003, she led the Irish to an 8-7 record and a 4-2 mark in the BIG EAST, good for third in the league standings. In 2002, Coyne led the Irish to their first-ever NCAA tournament bid as Notre Dame advanced to the quarterfinals before losing to eventual champion, Princeton, 11-5. 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. She led the team to the medal round at the 2001 World Cup and will serve as head coach of Team Canada again for the 2005 World Cup.
NCAA SELECTION SHOW: Notre Dame and Vanderbilt will learn of their 2004 NCAA tournament fate on Sunday evening. The selection show will be televised live on College Sports Television’s (CSTV) Scoreboard Show between 6:30 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. (EDT). CSTV can be found on DirecTV channel 610 and on selected cable systems.
SIMON TAKES TWO WEEKLY HONORS: Notre Dame’s senior attack/midfielder Meredith Simon added to her list of honors this season when she was selected the BIG EAST offensive player of the week and Inside Lacrosse Magazine’s player of the week for the week ending May 2. All Simon did was record a career-high eight points (four goals, four assists) in Notre Dame’s 13-11 win over Syracuse. Simon had three goals and three assists in the first half as the Irish built a 9-3 lead at halftime. On the year, Simon has been selected BIG EAST offensive player of the week four times.
SIMON NAMED TEWAARATON CANDIDATE: Notre Dame senior midfielder, Meredith Simon, has been named one of 20 nominees for the fourth annual Tewaaraton Trophy that will be awarded in June. Simon leads the Irish in scoring with career highs in goals (44), assists (24) and points (68). She is the first Notre Dame player ever to make the final list of nominees. The Tewaaraton Trophy is awarded each year to the top male and female lacrosse players in the country. In early May, the list will be cut to five finalists. Simon is one of three BIG EAST players nominated for the honor, joining Georgetown’s Michi Ellers and Syracuse’s Leigh-Ann Zimmer.
NOTRE DAME-SYRACUSE RECAP: (Notre Dame, Ind.) … Meredith Simon had a career-high eight-points while Lauren Fischer and Crysti Foote (So., Suffern, N.Y.) each had three goals as Notre Dame snapped its four-game losing streak with a 13-11 win over Syracuse. Simon recorded four goals and four assists in the game and Jackie Bowers (Jr., Springfield, Pa.) added a career-high three-assist game. Leigh-Ann Zimmer paced the Orangewomen with five goals and two assists in the game. Simon scored three goals and set up three others in the first half with Fischer and Abby Owen scoring twice and Meghan Murphy (Fr., Centennial, Colo.) and Foote getting one each for a 9-3 lead at the half. In the second half, Syracuse rallied with Zimmer getting four goals and Danielle Lillis three as the Orange got as close as 12-11 with 5:48 left in the game. Fischer closed out her hat trick with 5:35 left and the Irish held off Syracuse for the win. Carol Dixon (Jr., Pennsauken, N.J.) made five saves for the Irish and Jennifer Kasel had 12 saves for Syracuse. Notre Dame outshot the Orangewomen by a 31-21 margin in the game.
STREAKY IRISH: After starting the year with 10 straight wins, and 14 straight dating back to last season, the Irish followed with a four-game losing streak. The losses came at the hands of fifth-ranked Georgetown (9-7), 11th-ranked Northwestern (9-5), ninth-ranked Johns Hopkins (13-12) and at Rutgers (7-6). The four-game losing streak was the longest for the Irish since a six-game run from March 16 to April 8, 2000. Prior to the losing streak, the Irish were averaging 14.40 goals per game. During the four-game skid, the Irish averaged just 7.50 goals per game. Notre Dame hopes to start another winning streak after knocking off Syracuse, 13-11, on May 1.
THE LAST TIME OUT: The last time Notre Dame and Vanderbilt met (May 1, 2003), the Irish set a school record for goals in an away game with 22, in a 22-11 win over the Commodores in the 2003 season finale. The 22-goal outburst broke the previous road mark of 20 set at Gannon (20-10) and equaled the school record of 22 set in a 2000 home win over Ohio University (22-3). The 22 goals are the most that Notre Dame has ever scored versus a ranked team. Vanderbilt was ranked 15th in the nation at the time of the game.
70 IS THE NUMBER: Meredith Simon will look to break Notre Dame’s single-season point mark this weekend. She currently has 44 goals and 24 assists for 68 points, all career highs. The Irish record is 69 and was set by Lael O’Shaughnessy ’01, who recorded 50 goals and 19 assists in the 1999 season. Simon is also the second player in school history to record 40 or more goals in a season along with O’Shaughnessy. She recorded the 100th goal of her Notre Dame career in the 13-12 loss to Johns Hopkins, a game she had three goals and three assists in. A first team all-BIG EAST selection in 2003, Simon joins Danielle Shearer (130) and O’Shaughnessy (122) as the only Notre Dame players with 100 or more goals. She is also just the third player in the program’s eight-year history to score 60 or more points in a season (O’Shaughnessy with 69 in 1999 and Shearer with 61 in 2003 are the others). For her career, Simon is third in goals (107), fourth in assists (45) and third in points (152). She ranks 8th in the nation with 4.53 points per game, is 12th in assists with 1.60 per game and is tied for 19th with 2.93 goals-per-game.
DEFENSIVE STANDOUT: Senior Andrea Kinnik (West Chester, Pa.) continues her outstanding play for the Irish defense. This season, Kinnik has already set career highs for ground balls (49) and caused turnovers (29) as she leads the team in both categories. As a junior, she had 44 ground balls and 22 caused turnovers. Her 49 ground balls overall are tops in the BIG EAST and in six league games, Kinnik is tied for the league lead with 21 ground balls. Last season, her defensive skills were recognized as she was named first-team Brine/IWLCA all-Mid-Atlantic Region and third-team All-America by womenslacrosse.com.
HEIR APPARENT: Junior defender Jess Mikula (Chester, Md.) has had a breakout season for the Irish on defense. In her first season as a starter, Mikula is fourth on the team in ground balls with 33 and is tied for second in caused turnovers with 21. She has started all 15 games for the Irish. She is second to Kinnik in both categories among defensive players in the Irish lineup.
VERSUS THE BEST: Notre Dame’s 13-11 win over Syracuse on May 1 not only snapped a four-game losing streak for the Irish, it snapped a three-game losing streak versus ranked teams. Prior to the loss to Georgetown (4/17), the Irish had won six in a row versus the nation’s best. For the season, Notre Dame is now 5-3 versus ranked teams. All-time, the Irish are 14-31 versus teams that were ranked in the top 20. Among Notre Dame’s wins this season versus ranked teams are victories over #2 Duke and #6 James Madison. Those two wins came against the highest-ranked teams the Irish have ever beaten. The previous highest-ranked team Notre Dame beat was Yale (7th-ranked) in 2001 and in 2002, they downed 7th-ranked Syracuse. In 2003, the Irish were 3-7 versus teams ranked in the top 20.
RECORD-SETTING STREAK: Notre Dame’s 14-game winning streak from 4/22/03 to 4/17/04 was the longest in the program’s history and included four games in the 2003 season along with 10 this season. The previous longest winning streak for the Irish was six games from 3/13/01 to 3/31/01.
GAMES PLAYED LIST: Meredith Simon and Kassen Delano have moved into the top 10 on Notre Dame’s all-time games played list this season with one more regular season games remaining. For her career, Simon has now played in 62 career games to rank ninth all-time (the school record is 63 games played held by six players). Delano has played in 60 career games to rank 10th on the all-time list.
SCORING STREAKS: Meredith Simon ran her scoring streak to 26 games with four goals and four assists versus Syracuse. Here are the current active Irish points streaks.
Meredith Simon – 26 games (66g, 31a, 97 pts)
Abby Owen – 4 games (6g, 2a, 8 pts)
Lauren Fischer – 4 games (6g, 2a, 8 pts)
Meghan Murphy – 2 games (1g, 1a, 2pts)
CAREER YEAR: You thought that midfielder Abby Owen had a breakout season in 2003 when she had 15 goals and 10 assists for 25 points??? Well, in 2004, through the first 15 games of the year, Owen has already scored 31 goals with nine assists for 40 points (a new career high). She has four games this season with four points and four games with three points on the year. She had a career-high four-goal game versus Stanford on Feb. 29. She was named Inside Lacrosse Magazine Player of the Week for the week ending Feb. 29 and BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Week for the week ending March 14.
SCORIN’ LAUREN: Senior attacker Lauren Fischer has points in 14 of Notre Dame’s 15 games this season. For the year, Fischer has career highs in goals (26), assists (10) and points (36). Fischer’s three-assist game on March 28 versus Boston College is a career high. Her four-point game versus Syracuse was her third of the season (March 7 vs. Cornell) and the fourth of her career and is a career high. The three-goal game versus Syracuse was the fourth of the season and sixth of her career. Fischer’s previous career highs in goals (18), assists (6) and points (24) were established last season.
SLAMMING THE DOOR: Through 15 games this season, Notre Dame’s defense has given up 128 goals for an 8.48 goals-against average. The best goals against in the program’s previous seven seasons was 7.49 and that came during the 2002 campaign. The Irish have only given up double-digit goals in four games this season – Syracuse, Duke and Virginia Tech with 11 goals and Johns Hopkins with 13.
ON THE RIGHT FOOTE: Crysti Foote has found her scoring touch with points in nine of her last 10 games (18 goals and five assists for 23 points). On the season, Foote is fourth in scoring with 22 goals and eight assists for 30 points on the year. As a freshman, she finished third in scoring with 27 goals and 11 assists for 38 points. Foote played in all 15 games, starting the final six of the season. In those six games, she racked up 18 goals and eight assists for 26 points. She ended the year with an eight-game scoring streak with 22 goals and nine assists for 31 points. Following the season, Foote became the first Notre Dame women’s lacrosse freshman to be named to the Brine/IWLCA all-Mid-Atlantic region team.
IRISH ON THE NATIONAL SCENE: Notre Dame figures prominently in the national statistics this week (through games of May 2):
Individuals:
Points per game: Meredith Simon, 8th, 4.53 ppg
Goals per game: Meredith Simon, t19th, 2.93 gpg
Assists/game: Meredith Simon, 12th, 1.60 gpg
GAVG: Carol Dixon, 13th, 8.51 GAVG
Team:
Goals per game: 12th, 12.47 gpg
Team Defense: 15th, 8.53 opponent gpg
Margin of Victory: 10th, +3.93 gpg
Ground Balls: 8th, 26.33
Caused Turnovers: 7th, 11.00
HIGH-SCORING IRISH: The Irish have scored 187 goals through 15 games this season. The school record for goals is 200, set during the 1999 season. Notre Dame leads the BIG EAST in scoring with the 187 markers.
IRISH HONORS: The following Notre Dame players have been honored during 2004.
Carol Dixon
BIG EAST co-defensive player of the week (April 12)
BIG EAST co-defensive player of the week (Feb. 29)
Andrea Kinnik
BIG EAST co-defensive player of the week (March 29)
Abby Owen
BIG EAST offensive player of the week (March 14)
Inside Lacrosse Magazine Player of the Week (Feb. 29)
Meredith Simon
BIG EAST offensive player of the week (May 2)
Inside Lacrosse Magazine player of the week (May 2)
BIG EAST offensive player of the week (April 12)
BIG EAST offensive player of the week (March 29)
BIG EAST co-offensive player of the week (March 8)
THE CAPTAINS: Serving as captains for the Notre Dame women’s lacrosse team in 2004 will be seniors Andrea Kinnik and Meredith Simon. For both players are first-year captains for the Irish.
NEW KIDS: Freshman goalkeeper Katie Linhares (Greenwich, Conn.) saw her first action in goal for the Irish in the 9-5 loss to Northwestern. She played 3:28 while Carol Dixon was serving a yellow card. Linhares made one save on the only shot she faced. Midfielder Meghan Murphy (Fr., Centennial, Colo.) has stepped right into the Notre Dame lineup and has played like a veteran through the first 15 games of the season. Murphy had a career-high three goals and four points in the win over Cornell (Mar. 7), just her third game in an Irish uniform. For the season she has 11 goals and three assists for 14 points and is eighth on the team in scoring. Fellow freshman defender Meaghan Fitzpatrick (Farmingdale, N.Y.) made her first career start versus Connecticut and has seen action in all 15 games on defense. Sophomore Brittany Fox (So., Annapolis, Md.) scored her first career goal in the win over Cornell in her second career game. Junior midfielder Maura Costello (Manhasset, N.Y.) and sophomore defender Katie Killeen (Manhasset, N.Y.) both saw their first action for the Irish women’s lacrosse team versus Cornell. Kristin Hopson (Fr., Rosemont, Pa.) saw her first action versus Virginia Tech while Megan O’Shaughnessy (Fr., Englewood, Colo.) and Kaki Orr (Fr., Darien, Conn.) saw their first career action versus Boston College.
BOWERS POWERS: Junior attacker Jackie Bowers turned in a career-high three assist game in the win over Syracuse. The Springfield, Pa., native continues her strong first season in the Notre Dame lineup. On March 26 versus Virginia Tech, Bowers socre a career-best five goals. For that weekend versus Virginia Tech and Boston College, Bowers had six goals and one assist for seven points. On the year, Bowers has 13 goals and 10 assists for 23 points. All are career highs. Bowers had three goals and one assist for four points in limited action last season.
NEW SHERIFF IN TOWN: Junior goalkeeper Carol Dixon took over the reins in goal for the Irish in 2004 from All-American Jen White (’03) and has turned in a strong first season in goal for Notre Dame. She started with a 10-game winning streak and has been in the top 20 in the nation in goals-against average and save percentage all season. For the year, Dixon is 11-4 with an 8.51 goals against and a .521 save percentage. Nationally, she ranks 13th in goals-against average. Twice this season, Dixon has been named the BIG EAST co-defensive player of the week (Feb. 29 and April 12). When the Irish opened the 2004 season at Cal-Berkeley, Dixon became the first goalkeeper to start a game for the Irish other than White since the final game of the 2000 season. White started 48 consecutive games for Notre Dame, between 2001-2003. Dixon served as White’s backup the previous two seasons and saw action in five games last year, playing 121 minutes with a 8.93 goals-against average and a .571 save percentage. She was 0-0 on the year.
GOING ON THE OFFENSIVE: Notre Dame’s defense has even joined in on the goal scoring this season. The Irish defense had a goal and an assist in the 13-8 win over Ohio University on April 6. Andrea Kinnik set up one goal and sophomore Kerry Van Shura (Bel Air, Md.) scored her first collegiate goal in the contest. In nine games this season, Irish defenders have 12 goals and three assists on the year. Kristen Gaudreau leads the defense with six goals and an assist for seven points. Andrea Kinnik has four goals and two assists while Van Shura and Jess Mikula have one goal each.
THE LONGEST GAME: Notre Dame’s overtime win versus California was the seventh overtime game in the program’s history. The Irish are now 3-4 in games that go beyond regulation. On April 13, 2003, Notre Dame played the longest game in its history, a double-overtime loss to Stanford (14-13) as the two team’s battled for 72 minutes (60 regulation minutes and four three-minute overtime stanzas). The previous long game came in 2003 versus Duke as the Irish played 71:45 before losing a 10-9 decision. That game ended in sudden-death as the winning goal was scored with just 15 seconds left in the fourth three-minute overtime.
CLOSE ONES: The Irish suffered back-to-back one-goal losses in their games versus Johns Hopkins and Rutgers (April 23 and April 25). For the year, Notre Dame is 1-2 in one-goal decisions with the win coming in the season opener at California, 12-11, in overtime. In the program’s eight-year history, the Irish are 7-10 all-time in one-goal games. During the 2003 season, Notre Dame was 1-3 in one-goal games with two of the losses coming in back-to-back overtime contests.
SEASON-BY-SEASON: Notre Dame women’s lacrosse in its first eight seasons:
Overall BIG EAST1997 5-4 ----1998 7-6 ----1999 9-6 ----2000 5-10 ----2001 10-5 4-2, tie 2nd2002 13-5 5-1, 2nd2003 8-7 4-2, 3rd2004 10-4 4-2, tie, 2ndTotals 68-47, .591 17-7, .708
PRESEASON PROGNOSTICATIONS: The Irish were picked in BIG EAST coaches voting to finish third in the BIG EAST this coming season behind Georgetown and Syracuse. The coaches also named Meredith Simon and Andrea Kinnik to their preseason all-BIG EAST team. Inside Lacrosse Magazine ranks the Irish 16th in the nation in their preseason poll.
FUTURE IRISH: Head coach Tracy Coyne has announced that six players will join the Irish women’s lacrosse squad for the 2004-05 school year. They are:
Player Pos. Hgt.Hometown/High SchoolMary Carpenter M 5-6Rochester, N.Y./Our Lady of MercyHeather Ferguson A 5-4Newtown Square, PA/Archbishop CarrollLindsey Ferguson M 5-4Newtown Square, PA/Archbishop CarrollJulie Foote M/A 5-6Suffern, NY/SuffernCaitlin McKinney M/A 5-1Lafayette Hill, PA/Germantown AcademyBecky Ranck M/D 5-8Radnor, PA/Radnor
ALL IN THE FAMILY: Two members of the Notre Dame lacrosse team have family ties to the program and two others have ties to the men’s lacrosse program. Junior goalkeeper Carol Dixon (Pennsauken, N.J.) got to play two seasons with her sister, Angela, who graduated in May of 2003. The duo gave Notre Dame its second set of sisters to play on the women’s lacrosse team, joining Amy and Mara Grace who played in the first year of the program. Freshman midfield/attack player, Megan O’Shaughnessy (Englewood, Colo.) is the cousin of Irish scoring great Lael O’Shaughnessy, a 2001 graduate. Senior Meredith Simon follows in her brother Eric’s footsteps. A 2003 graduate, Eric served as one of the captains of the 2003 men’s lacrosse team while Meredith is a co-captain of the women’s team in 2003. Senior defender Bridget Higgins (Wilton, Conn.) older brother, Kevin, played lacrosse at Notre Dame and served as team captain for the 2000 season. Sophomore defender Lena Zentgraf (Charlottesville, Va.) is the niece of men’s lacrosse coach Kevin Corrigan and the granddaughter of former Notre Dame athletic director Gene Corrigan.