April 3, 1999

VILLANOVA, Pa. – The Notre Dame women’s lacrosse team scored five goals in the first seven minutes of the game and held a 7-2 lead at halftime as the Irish beat Villanova 15-9 on Saturday at Villanova Stadium. Notre Dame sophomore Lael O’Shaughnessy poured in a game-high six goals for the second straight game to lead the Irish, who improve to 5-2 with the win. The Wildcats fall to 3-5 with the loss. Notre Dame will travel to Penn on Mon., April 5, for a 7:00 p.m. game at Franklin Field in its next action.

The Irish held only a two-shot advantage over Villanova, 34-32, but sophomore goalie Carrie Marshall came up with a season-high 16 saves in net for Notre Dame, which converted on 15 of its 34 shots. The Irish controlled 14 of the 12 draws and collected 18 groundballs to Villanova’s 17. O’Shaughnessy’s six goals bring her season total to 32 goals in seven games, already surpassing the 27 goals she scored in 12 games as a freshman. Kerry Callahan has scored at least one goal in 21 consecutive games, dating back to the 1997 season.

Freshman Katherine Scarola, making her first career start, sparked the Irish early on as she had two assists in the first 2:02 of the game to give Notre Dame a 2-0 lead. Villanova scored its first goal to cut the Irish lead to 3-1 but Notre Dame used a pair of goals by Kathryn Perrella and goals by O’Shaughnessy and Kerry Callahan to build a 7-1 lead late in the first half. Villanova senior Meghan Doyle, sister of Irish sophomore Maura Doyle, netted the first of her five goals at the end of the first half as Notre Dame led 7-2 at halftime.

The Wildcats scored four of the first six goals of the second half cut the lead to 9-6 with 20:48 left in the second half after Meghan Doyle’s third goal of the game. Notre Dame’s Maura Doyle answered her sister with two goals in the next 1:27 to put the Irish ahead 11-6.

Meghan Doyle scored twice more to cut the lead to 12-8 but Notre Dame scored three consecutive goals to put the game away. The Wildcats added a final goal with 10 seconds remaining in the 15-9 Irish win.

            1   2    F   Notre Dame  7   8   15Villanova   2   7    9

Scoring (goal-assists):
Notre Dame: Lael O’Shaughnessy 6-0; Kerry Callahan 1-4; Kathryn Perrella 2-1; Courtney Calabrese 2-1; Katherine Scarola 0-3; Maura Doyle 2-0; Maureen Henwood 1-0; Alissa Moser 1-0; Natalie Loftus 0-1. Villanova: Meghan Doyle 5-0; Cecily Pierce 2-1; Julie Feddeman 1-0; Liz Kenny 1-0; Teri Overturf 0-1.

Team stats
Notre Dame: Total Shots (34), Free Position Shots (7), Shots on Goal (27), Saves (16, Carrie Marshall), Draw Control (14), Ground Balls (18). Villanova: Total Shots (32), Free Position Shots (4), Shots on Goal (28), Saves (10, Sarah Gilhorn), Draw Control (12), Ground Balls (17).