April 17, 2007

Notre Dame, Ind. –

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• The Game: #6/#8 Notre Dame (11-3) vs. #14/#15 Vanderbilt (9-4)

• Date/Time/Site: Wed., Apr. 18, 2007 • 4:00 p.m. (CST) • VU Lacrosse Complex • Nashville, Tenn.

• The Game: #6/#8 Notre Dame (11-3/3-1) vs. #18/#19 Rutgers (11-3/2-2)

• Date/Time/Site: Sat., Apr. 21, 2007 • 3:00 p.m. • Moose Krause Stadium • Notre Dame, Ind.

• Video Streaming: All remaining Notre Dame women’s lacrosse home games will be streamed live via Fighting Irish All-Access on the Notre Dame website at und.com. To view the game, the viewer will need to be using Internet Explorer 6 with Windows Media Player 9 or higher.

THE FINAL WEEK: Notre Dame moves into the final week of the 2007 regular season with one road game and one home game on the docket. The Irish travel to Nashville, Tenn., on Wed., April 18 to face the #14/#15 Vanderbilt Commodores in a 4:00 p.m. (CST) game from the VU Lacrosse Complex. On Saturday, April 21, Notre Dame returns home to close the regular season with a BIG EAST contest against #18/#19 Rutgers at Moose Krause Stadium. That game will start at 3:00 p.m. The Irish will honor their five graduating seniors in Senior Day ceremonies prior to the start of the game. Notre Dame brings an 11-3 overall record into the week and with a 3-1 record in the BIG EAST is in a three-way tie for first in the conference with Georgetown and Syracuse. The Irish enter the week ranked sixth in the IWLCA poll and eighth in the Inside Lacrosse.com poll. Vanderbilt is 9-4 overall and 3-1 in the American Lacrosse Conference and is coming off a 10-9 win against Ohio State on April 15. The Commodores have won three in a row and six of their last seven games coming into this week’s action. Rutgers visits Notre Dame with an 11-3 overall mark and is 2-2 coming into the final BIG EAST contest for both teams. The Scarlet Knights fell 21-12 on April 13 to Syracuse in their last outing, snapping a five-game winning streak. Rutgers will close the regular season on April 23 when the Knights travel to Evanston, Ill., to face top-ranked Northwestern.

BIG EAST TOURNAMENT: The BIG EAST will host its first-ever tournament this season, April 27-29, at Syracuse, N.Y. Heading into this week’s games, Notre Dame, Syracuse, Georgetown and Rutgers have all clinched tournament spots. The Irish, Orange and Hoyas are tied for first with a 3-1 record while Rutgers is fourth with a 2-2 mark. Here are the remaining BIG EAST games that will determine the final standings for the tournament: Saturday, April 21 – Rutgers at Notre Dame; Loyola at Syracuse; Sunday, April 22 – Connecticut at Georgetown. Notre Dame has defeated Georgetown but lost to Syracuse while Syracuse owns a win against the Irish and a loss to the Hoyas. If all three teams will, the final standings will go to tiebreakers. BIG EAST tiebreaking procedures:

Tie-Breaking Policies The following policies are set up to break ties at the end of the regular season for selection/seeding purposes. Follow the appropriate steps in order. Once one or more teams gain an advantage in the case of a multiple-team tie, revert to the beginning of the tie-breaking policies with the remaining teams. If the ties cannot be broken, the Commissioner will conduct a coin flip.

1. Regular season head-to-head results. If three or more teams are tied, they are viewed as a “miniconference” when comparing head-to-head results. The team or teams with the best combined record versus the other teams in the mini-conference gain the advantage. 2. Each team’s record versus the team occupying the highest position in the standings, continuing down through the standings until one team gains an advantage. NOTE: When arriving at another pair of tied teams while comparing records, use each team’s record against the tied teams as a group rather than the performance against the individual tied teams. 3. Each team’s Conference seasonal goal differential (maximum of seven goals per game). 4. Each team’s Conference seasonal goals for (maximum of seven goals per game). 5. Each team’s Conference seasonal goals against (maximum of seven goals per game).

LIVE VIDEO STREAMING: Notre Dame’s remaining home game vs. Rutgers will be streamed live on Notre Dame’s website, und.com. To watch the game on your computer, go to Fighting Irish All-Access on und.com. To view the game, the viewer will need to be using Internet Explorer 6 with Windows Media Player 9 or higher while watching on an IBM computer.

IRISH VERSUS COMMODORES: Notre Dame and Vanderbilt have met 10 times in the all-time series with the Commodores holding a 6-4 edge in those meetings. The Irish are 3-2 against Vanderbilt at home and are 1-4 in Nashville, Tenn. Last season, Notre Dame rallied from an 11-10 deficit in the final two minutes on a pair of goals by then-freshman Jillian Byers (Northport, N.Y.) for the 12-11 win. Byers game winner came with 18 seconds left. The last time the two teams met at Vanderbilt was March 9, 2005 with the Commodores taking a 10-9 overtime decision.

IRISH VERSUS SCARLET KNIGHTS: Notre Dame and Rutgers have met seven times in the all-time series with the Irish holding a 5-2 advantage. The Irish are 3-0 in games played at home and 2-2 in games played at Rutgers. Last season, the teams played on April 23 in Piscataway, N.J., with the Irish taking a 13-8 decision. The last time the teams played as Notre Dame was April 3, 2005 with the Irish winning a 12-9 contest.

HEAD COACH Tracy Coyne: Tracy Coyne is in her 11th season at Notre Dame and 20th year in collegiate lacrosse. Coyne brings a 212-93 (.695) career record into the game at Vanderbilt and is now 98-67 (.594) with the Irish. The 1983 graduate of Ohio University recorded her 200th career win last season in the first round of the NCAA tournament with a 16-8 victory against Cornell. She has guided Notre Dame to three NCAA tournament appearances (2002, 2004, 2006), including last year’s first-ever trip to the NCAA finals. In her first 19 years of coaching, Coyne was 23-5 in two seasons at Denison (1988-89), 91-21 in seven years at Roanoke (1990-96) and 87-64 in 10 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 4-6 all-time against Vanderbilt and 5-2 in her career against Rutgers.

CENTURY MARK: Notre Dame head coach Tracy Coyne needs just two more wins to reach the 100-mark in her career at Notre Dame. She reached the 200-win mark for her career on May 14, 2006 in the NCAA Tournament versus Cornell.

ENDING THE HOYA STREAK: Junior Caitlin McKinney (Lafayette Hill, Pa.) had a goal and a career-high four assists and Jillian Byers scored three times to help lead Notre Dame to a 13-8 win over Georgetown on Sat., April 14 at Moose Krause Stadium. The Notre Dame win snapped Georgetown’s 37-game BIG EAST winning streak and was the first loss the Hoyas have ever had in conference play. Nine Irish players got on the scoresheet in the game. Joining McKinney and Byers were Kaki Orr (Sr., Darien, Conn.) and Jane Stoeckert (So., Mendham, N.J.) with two goals each while Meghan Murphy (Sr., Centennial, Colo.), Lena Zentgraf (Sr., Charlottesville, Va.), Mary Carpenter (Jr., Rochester, N.Y.), Heather Ferguson (Jr., Newtown Square, Pa.) and Alicia Billings (So., Potomac, Md.) scored once in the win. Goalkeeper Erin Goodman (So., Cortlandt Park, N.Y.) made five saves in the game. Notre Dame led 6-4 at halftime and kept the two-goal lead at 8-6 with just under 17 minutes left. From there, Notre Dame scored three straight goals to put the game away a 11-6 with just over eight minutes left on the way to the 13-8 final score.

ON A ROLL: The Irish go into the final week of the regular season having won two in a row and nine of their last 11 games on the way to the 11-3 record. They are now 26-7 (.788) over the last two seasons.

QUICKEST TO 100: With three goals against Georgetown, sophomore Jillian Byers went over the 100-goal mark in her career faster than any other player in Notre Dame history. It took Byers just 33 games to score 100 goals. Her career totals after 33 games now stand at 101 goals and 31 assists for 132 career points. Earlier this season she reached the 100-point plateau faster than any Notre Dame player when she did it in 24 games. She is currently sixth all-time in goals, eighth in assists and seventh in points.

DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Senior defender Meaghan Fitzpatrick (Farmingdale, N.Y.) was named the BIG EAST defensive player of the week for her play in Notre Dame’s win over Georgetown. Fitzpatrick had the duty of stopping Hoya All-American Coco Stanwick and held her to one goal and one assist in the contest. In the game, Fitzpatrick had five ground balls and two caused turnovers in the victory.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK HONORS: Caitlin McKinney was honored this week by WomensLax.com as its player of the week for her play in the win over Georgetown. McKinney scored once and had a career-high four assists for five points versus the Hoyas. She now leads Notre Dame in scoring with 36 goals and 20 assists for 56 points.

ONE MORE HONOR: Notre Dame head coach Tracy Coyne was named U.S. Lacrosse women’s coach of the week for the week ending April 15. Coyne guided her team to a 13-8 win over Georgetown, snapping the Hoyas 37-game BIG EAST unbeaten streak.

OUCH: The 20 goals scored by Duke against the Irish on April 5, marked just the sixth time in the program’s history that Notre Dame has given up 20 or more goals in a game. The most goals ever surrendered was 21, twice in 1997 (vs. Davidson and St. Joseph’s) and once last year (vs. Northwestern). The largest margin of defeat for Notre Dame is 14 goals and that came in a 19-5 loss to Duke on March 29, 1998.

36 AND COUNTING: Junior attack standout Caitlin McKinney has run her personal point-scoring streak to 36 games. That ties the Notre Dame record for the most consecutive games scoring a point. She is now tied with former Irish standout Danielle Shearer `03, who scored in 36 consecutive games from April 25, 2001 to May 1, 2003. During her streak Shearer had 85 goals, 51 assists and 136 points. McKinney’s streak began on April 24, 2005 during her freshman year. She has 86 goals and 43 assists for 129 points in her record run. Other current scoring streaks for the Irish include:

Jillian Byers - 14 games (47-7-54)Lena Zentgraf - 14 games (16-17-33)Jane Stoeckert - 12 games (17-13-30)Kaki Orr - 5 games (7-5-12)Heather Ferguson - 4 games (5-2-7)Mary Carpenter - 3 games (5-0-5)Alicia Billings - 2 games (1-1-2)Meghan Murphy - 2 games (3-2-5)

DOUBLE-DIGIT WINS: With 11 wins on the season, Notre Dame has back-to-back double-digit win seasons for the second time in the program’s history and the first time since winning 10 in 2001 and 13 in 2002. Last season, the Irish won 15 to go with their 11 this year.

HOME SWEET HOME: Notre Dame’s win over Georgetown improved the Irish to 6-2 this season at home. They are 3-2 on the year at the Loftus Sports Center and 3-0 in games played at Moose Krause Stadium. In 2006, the Irish were 9-0 at home and are now 15-2 between the Loftus Center and Moose Krause Stadium over the last two years.

ACADEMIC HONORS: Senior Meaghan Fitzpatrick was recently honored for her work away from the playing field. A design major, Fitzpatrick has received the William and Connie Grief Art Award, the Mabel L. Mountain Art Award for Excellence in Studio Art and the Efroymson Fund Emerging Undergraduate Artist Award for art and design work in her major.

TEWAARATON WATCH LIST: Sophomore Jillian Byers and junior Caitlin McKinney have been named to the 2007 Tewaaraton “Watch List.” They are among 34 Division I players, selected by a panel of coaches from around the country, eligible for women’s collegiate lacrosse’s top player award. The current duo join Crysti Foote `06, Meredith Simon `04 and Danielle Shearer `03 as Irish players previously named to the “Watch List.” Shearer was the fist player named to the list, Simon was the first selected as a nominee for the award and Foote was the first to be named a finalist.

BALANCED ATTACK: Notre Dame goes into the Vanderbilt game with five players who have 30 or more points on the season. A year ago, in 19 games, while setting a variety of scoring records, the Irish had just four players with 30 or more points – Crysti Foote (114), Jillian Byers (78), Caitlin McKinney (64) and Heather Ferguson (36). This season, the five are – McKinney (56), Byers (54), Meghan Murphy (34), Lena Zentgraf (33) and Jane Stoeckert (30). With 22 points, Kaki Orr has an outside shot at reaching 30 points on the year.

STICK WITH STOECKERT: Sophomore midfielder Jane Stoeckert has become a major contributor to Notre Dame’s offense in her second season in the Irish midfield. Her two goals and one assist in the win over Georgetown extended her personal-scoring streak to 12 games. She now has 10 games this season with two or more points and has four games with two or more goals. Stoeckert led Notre Dame with a career-best six-point game (3g, 3a) in the 16-11 win over California on April 7. She also has set career highs in goals (17), assists (13) and points (30) for the season and is fifth in team scoring.. As a freshman, Stoeckert had 11 goals and nine assists for 20 points in 19 games.

VERSUS THE BEST: The Irish will face a pair of ranked teams this week when they face #14/#15 Vanderbilt and #18/#19 Rutgers. That will give them 11 teams this season that were ranked when they faced Notre Dame. The Irish are currently 6-3 in games versus top 20 teams. They own wins over #9 Georgetown, #12 James Madison, #18 Stanford, #11 Cornell, #18 Yale and #19 Connecticut (rankings are IWLCA rankings when team faced the Irish.). The losses have come to #1 Northwestern, #11 Syracuse and #4 Duke.

RECORD WATCH: Senior Kaki Orr leads Notre Dame with 44 draw controls this season. That ranks second in the BIG EAST and 15th in the country. She is now tied with Crysti Foote `06 for the single-season record that was set last season. Orr is also tied with Foote for second on the all-time lsit with 103 career draw controls. That’s 23 behind all-time leader and current assistant coach, Alissa Moser `02, who had 126 draw controls in her Irish career.

LEAN ON LENA: Senior midfielder Lena Zentgraf has already put together a career year for the Irish in her final season. Zentgraf goes into this week’s action with career highs in goals (16), assists (17) and points (33) to rank fourth in team scoring. Zentgraf’s previous best season came in 2005 when she had 11 goals and eight assists for 19 points. She also leads Notre Dame with 23 caused turnovers and is second with 30 ground balls and 27 draw controls.

CAREER YEAR: Senior Meghan Murphy has become an offensive force for the Irish over the last 10 games as she has scored 28 points (15g, 13a), including a career-high five-point game (3g, 2a) versus Duquesne and three, four-point games – 2 goals, 2 assists versus California and (1g, 3a) at Canisius and versus Ohio State. Murphy is currently third on the team with career highs in goals (18), assists (16) and points (33), breaking her previous career bests of 14-9-23 set in 2006.

CHART CLIMBER: With five points (1g, 4a) in the win over Georgetown, junior Caitlin McKinney now has 106 goals to rank fifth on the all-time goal list (Meredith Simon is fourth with 109). Her 20 assists this season give her 54 for her career and rank her fifth in that category (Kerry Callahan is fourth with 63). She now has 160 career points to move into fourth on the all-time list, two points ahead of Meredith Simon who has 158.

RECORD-SETTING GAME: When the Irish held Loyola (Md.) to just one goal on March 25 in the 11-1 win, it set a Notre Dame and BIG EAST record for the fewest goals allowed in a game. The previous mark of two goals had been set by the Irish in a 9-2 win at Rutgers on April 28, 2002. Four times in the program’s history, the Irish had limited their opponent to just two goals in a game.

MAKING THE STOPS: Sophomore goaltender Erin Goodman improved her overall record to 11-3 with a 10.18 goals-against average and a .442 save percentage after defeating Georgetown, 13-8, on April 14. She needs one more win to equal the Irish mark for wins by a goalkeeper in her first sesaon as a starter as she trails Carol Dixon `05 who had 12 in her first season as a starter in 2004. On March 25 versus Loyola, she gave up one goal with 14 saves in an 11-1 win over Loyola. The one goal that she surrendered against gives Goodman the Notre Dame and BIG EAST record for fewest goals allowed in a game. The previous Irish mark of two goals against had occured four times in the program’s history. The record in BIG EAST play came on April 28, 2002, in a 9-2 win at Rutgers with Irish All-American Jen White `03, getting the win.

CONTROLLING THE DRAW: The Irish currently lead the BIG EAST in draw controls with 194 in their first 14 games for an average of 13.86 per game. Leading the team is senior Kaki Orr who has 44 for the year and is second in the conference with 3.07 per game. She is followed by Lena Zentgraf who has 27 on the year or 1.93 per game. Notre Dame tied a school record by winning 20 draws in the 13-9 win at Cornell on March 4. The 20 draws did set a school mark for draw controls in an away game. The previous mark of 20 was set versus Virginia Tech on March 26, 2004. The previous road mark was 19 and was done three times. As a team, the Irish have won 194 draw controls while losing 161 for a 54.9% success rate in the first 14 games of the season.