April 9, 2006
Notre Dame, Ind. – The Notre Dame women’s lacrosse team saw their three-game winning streak come to an end on Sunday afternoon as the 10th-ranked Irish dropped a heartbreaking 11-10 decision to the fourth-ranked Duke Blue Devils at Koskinen Field.
The Irish led 6-4 at halftime and 8-6 with 25 minutes left in the game but could not hold on as Duke controlled play over a 12-minute span of the second half, scoring five unanswered goals on the way to an 11-8 lead. Senior Crysti Foote (Suffern, N.Y.) continued her All-American season, scoring four goals and adding an assist in the loss. Caitlin McKinney (So., Lafayette Hill, Pa.), Jillian Byers (Fr., Northport, N.Y.) and Heather Ferguson (So., Newtown Square, Pa.) each scored two goals for Notre Dame. Goalkeeper Carol Dixon (Sr., Pennsauken, N.J.) held off a constant Duke attack, making a career-high 18 saves in the game as the Blue Devils out shot the Irish by a 44-25 margin.
Duke got three goals from Leigh Jester, two from Kristen Waagbo and Rachel Sanford and single goals from Katie Chrest, Carolyn Davis, Caroline Cryer and Allie Johnson in the win.
The victory was the second in a row for Duke over a ranked foe as the Blue Devils knocked off top-ranked Northwestern on Friday before the one-goal win on Sunday. Duke is now 11-1 on the year while Notre Dame falls to 10-2 for the season.
Duke wasted little time getting in front on Sunday as Chrest scored just nine seconds into the game for a 1-0 lead. The Irish struck back with a three-goal run over a 3:40 period. Byers scored off a Foote feed at 28:00. Foote put the Irish in front, 2-1, at 25:30 with her first of four in the game. McKinney’s free-position shot at 24:20 gave Notre Dame a 3-1 lead.
Duke would tie the game with two goals in a 32-second span. Jester scored her first of the game at 15:35 and Waagbo collected her first at 15:03 to make it 3-3.
Mary Carpenter (So., Rochester, N.Y.) made a great feed inside to Ferguson at 14:40 and the Notre Dame sophomore fired a shot past Duke’s Megan Huether for a 4-3 Irish lead. Waagbo answered back with a free-position shot at 10:11 for a 4-4 game.
Ferguson put the Irish back on top with her second of the game and Foote closed the scoring in the opening half with her second goal of the contest at 5:41. Dixon kept the Irish in the game by making 11 saves in the first half.
The Blue Devils quickly tied the game at 6-6 with two goals in a 34-second span in the first minute of the second half. Davis scored 10 seconds in at 29:50 and Cryer converted a Chrest set up at 29:16 for Duke.
Foote and McKinney gave the Irish another two-goal lead with goals at 26:53 and 25:15 to make it 8-6. From there, Duke took over, winning control of the draw on five straight draws (won nine of 12 in the second half). Sanford started the five-goal run at 24:44 and ended it with her second goal at 15:28. In between Jester (free-position), Johnson and Jester (her third of the game) built the Duke lead to 11-8 with the Blue Devil defense taking over.
Foote broke through for the Irish at 10:30 to make it 11-9 and Byers notched her second of the game with 4:58 left to make it 11-10, but that was as close as the Irish would get on the afternoon.
The loss to Duke was the eighth in the nine-game series between the two schools with the Irish now 0-5 in Durham.
Notre Dame returns to BIG EAST action in their next three games. They will face third-ranked Georgetown on Saturday, April 15 in a 12:00 noon game in Washington, D.C. Both teams come into the contest tied for first in the BIG EAST with 2-0 league records.
The Irish then close out the five-game road swing on April 23 at Rutgers and then close out BIG EAST action on April 29 at home versus Syracuse.
IRISH NOTES:
** Notre Dame’s two losses this season have come to No. 1 ranked Northwestern and No. 4 ranked Duke. The 10-2 mark ties for the best in the program’s history. In 2004, the Irish were 10-2 after 12 games.
** Crysti Foote needs two more goals to set the single-season goal mark of 50 that was set by Lael O’Shaughnessy in 1999. Her 70 points (49g, 21a) are just four off the single-season mark of 74 set by Meredith Simon in 2004.
** Carol Dixon’s previous single-game save mark was 16 set earlier this year in the 12-11 overtime win at Stanford. In that game, she played 67:34 to set the mark. Her 18 versus Duke came in regulation play. The Notre Dame record for saves in a game is 20 and held by Tara Durkin (April 2, 2000 vs. Vanderbilt) and Carrie Marshall (April 24, 1998 vs. Columbia).
Game Summary 1 2 - F#10 Notre Dame (10-2/2-0) 6 4 - 10#4 Duke (11-1/3-1) 4 7 - 11
First-Half ScoringTime Team Score Goal Assist29:51 DU 0-1 Katie Chrest (36)28:00 ND 1-1 Jillian Byers (34) Crysti Foote25:30 ND 2-1 Crysti Foote (46)24:20 ND 3-1 * Caitlin McKinney (26) Free-Position Shot15:35 DU 3-2 Leigh Jester (20)15:03 DU 3-3 Kristen Waagbo (29) Megan Del Monte14:40 ND 4-3 Heather Ferguson (11) Mary Carpenter10:11 DU 4-4 * Kristen Waagbo (30) Free-Postion Shot 8:54 ND 5-4 Heather Ferguson (12) 5:41 ND 6-4 Crysti Foote (47)
Second-Half ScoringTime Team Score Goal Assist29:50 DU 6-5 Carolyn Davis (25)29:16 DU 6-6 Caroline Cryer (14) Katie Chrest26:53 ND 7-6 Crysti Foote (48)25:15 ND 8-6 Caitlin McKinney (27)24:44 DU 8-7 Rachel Sanford (20)21:35 DU 8-8 * Leigh Jester (21) Free-Position Shot16:52 DU 8-9 Allie Johnson (4) Megan Del Monte15:28 DU 8-10 Leigh Jester (22)13:16 DU 8-11 Rachel Sanford (21)10:30 ND 9-11 Crysti Foote (49) 4:58 ND 10-11 Jillian Byers (35)
* Free-position goal
GoalkeepersNotre Dame - Carol Dixon (60:00 min.; 11 goals, 18 saves)Duke - Megan Huether (60:00 min.; 10 goals, 9 saves)
Shots: ND - 25; DU - 44Ground Balls: ND - 19; ND - 19Draw Controls: ND - 9; DU - 14Caused Turnovers: ND - 5; DU - 10