March 25, 2000

BALTIMORE, Md. — The Notre Dame women’s lacrosse team dropped its third straight game in a 9-7 loss at Johns Hopkins Saturday night. The Irish built an early 3-1 lead before trailing 4-3 at halftime. After junior Lael O’Shaughnessy scored the second of her three goals to tie the game at 5-5, the Blue Jays scored four of the last six goals of the game for the win. Notre Dame falls to 3-3 with the loss, while Hopkins improves to 5-2 with their fifth straight win. The Irish return to action when they play host to 18th-ranked Vanderbilt on Sun., April 2, at 1:00 p.m.

Johns Hopkins held a 32-26 advantage in shots, while Notre Dame controlled 13 of 18 draws but made 27 turnovers to 18 for the Blue Jays. Four Johns Hopkins goals came from free position shots. Irish junior goalkeeper Tara Durkin made 17 saves in the game.

Freshman Kelly McCardell scored twice in the first 5:52 to put Notre Dame ahead 2-0. After a Blue Jay goal, freshman Danielle Shearer put the Irish up 3-1 at 14:51 of the first half. Notre Dame failed to score on a number of offensive opportunities during the remaining of the first half as Hopkins took a 4-3 lead into halftime.

After the Blue Jays scored to start the second half, O’Shaughnessy netted back-to-back goals to tie the game at 20:28. The Irish did not score again until O’Shaughnessy pulled Notre Dame within 7-6 at 7:26. Sophomore Natalie Loftus followed another Hopkins goal by converting a free position shot at 2:37 to cut the lead to 8-7. Erin Wellmer sealed the win for the Blue Jays by scoring the final goal of the game with 18 seconds remaining.

Team Scoring

Notre Dame 3-4 7

Johns Hopkins 4-5 9

Individual Scoring (goal-assist):

Notre Dame: Lael O’Shaughnessy 3-0, Kelly McCardell 2-0, Natalie Loftus 1-0, Danielle Shearer 1-0, Kathryn Perrella 0-1, Rachel Turk 0-1.

Johns Hopkins: Erinn Dennis 3-0, Danielle Maschuci 3-0, Erin Wellner 2-0, Jamie Larrimore 1-0.

Team Stats:

Notre Dame: total shots – 26, free position shots – 3, shots on goal – 23, saves – 17 (Tara Durkin), draw control – 13.

Johns Hopkins: total shots – 32, free position shots – 7, shots on goal – 25, saves – 10 (Sara Love), draw control – 5.