April 8, 2001
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Sophomore midfielder Danielle Shearer (Hampstead, Md.) scored a career-high five goals and had two assists to help the University of Notre Dame women’s lacrosse team to a 19-5 win over Connecticut Sunday afternoon at Moose Krause Stadium in the first home conference tilt for the Irish in the inaugural season of BIG EAST women’s lacrosse. Notre Dame improves to 7-2 overall and is now 3-0 in league play. The Irish sit atop the BIG EAST standings, along with Georgetown, which is 4-0 in the conference. UConn falls to 1-6 and 0-2 in league play.
With the game tied 1-1, Shearer exploded with three straight goals in a 41-second span to put the Irish ahead for good. That ignited a 9-1 run for Notre Dame before the Huskies scored a goal to make the score 10-3 going into halftime. Notre Dame scored nine consecutive goals to open the second half and take a 19-3 lead before Connecticut netted the final two scores of the afternoon.
Nine Irish players scored goals in the game and five registered multiple-goal efforts. Senior captain Lael O’Shaughnessy (Alexandria, Va.) had three goals and two assists and junior Natalie Loftus (Baltimore, Md.) scored three goals. Freshman Kassen Delano (Alexandria, Va.) and junior captain Alissa Moser (North Wales, Pa.) each had a pair of scores, while Delano also added two assists.
The game marked the fourth time in nine games this season that Notre Dame has scored 19 or more goals after accomplishing the feat just six times previously in the program’s history. The 7-2 start for Notre Dame matches the best in school history. The 1999 Irish also started 7-2 on their way to a program-best 9-6 season.
Notre Dame returns to action Friday, April 13, when the Irish go on the road to take on Duke in New Haven, Conn. at 4:00 p.m.