April 2, 2000

NOTRE DAME, Ind. — The Notre Dame women’s lacrosse team dropped its fourth straight game in a 10-6 loss to 13th-ranked Vanderbilt on Sunday despite a school-record 20 saves from junior goalkeeper Tara Durkin. Freshman Danielle Shearer scored three goals and added an assist to lead the Irish. Senior Sue Napolitano scored seven goals to lead the Commodores past the Irish, who fall to 3-4 with the loss and have lost their last three games by a total of seven goals. Vanderbilt scored four goals in a 2:12 span in the first half to break a 3-3 tie. The Irish return to action at sixth-ranked Georgetown on Wed., April 5, in a 3:30 p.m. game.

Two goals by Napolitano helped Vanderbilt jumped out to a 3-0 lead at the 16:10 mark before Shearer scored Notre Dame’s first goal at 12:10. Sophomore Tina Fedarcyk and freshman Angela Dixon each scored in 33 seconds to tie the game at the 4:16 mark of the first half. After Durkin and the Irish defense held the Commodores scoreless for 13:41, Napolitano scored twice in 26 seconds to help Vanderbilt score four unanswered goals for a 7-3 lead. Shearer pulled the Irish within 7-4 when she scored as time expired in the first half.

The score remained 7-4 for 14:50 of the second half until Shearer scored on an assist from junior Lael O’Shaughnessy at 15:10. Napolitano won the ensuring draw and scored at 15:01, sparking the Commodores to another three-goal spurt as they built a 10-5 lead at 9:33. O’Shaughnessy finished by scoring in her 17th consecutive game with a goal at 5:58.

Durkin made 10 saves in each half to finish with 20, matching the 20 saves Carrie Marshall saved against Columbia in 1998. She improved her save percentage from .620 — 10th in the NCAA entering the week — to .629. Senior Shana Crabtree had 13 saves for Vanderbilt. The Commodores scored four goals on seven free position shots, while the Irish were 0-5.

Team Scoring

Vanderbilt 7-3 10

Notre Dame 4-2 6

Individual Scoring (goal-assist)

VU: Sue Napolitano 7-0, Kinsey Osberg 0-2, Jeannie Crawley 1-0, Caroline Mans 1-0, Amanda Rice 1-0.

ND: Danielle Shearer 3-1, Lael O’Shaughnessy 1-2, Angela Dixon 1-0, Tina Fedarcyk 1-0, Natalie Loftus 0-1.

Team Stats

VU: total shots – 36, free position shots – 7, shots on goal – 29, saves – 13 (Shana Crabtree), draw control – 8.

ND: total shots – 21, free position shots – 5, shots on goal – 16, saves – 20 (Tara Durkin), draw control – 9.