May 2, 2002
Notre Dame, Ind. – The Notre Dame women’s lacrosse team will close out the 2002 regular season on Friday, May 3 at Moose Krause Stadium with a 1:00 p.m. game versus the Vanderbilt Commodores.
The Irish, ranked eighth in the most recent Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches Poll (IWLCA), will be looking to do something they’ve never done in the six-year history of their program – beat the Vanderbilt Commodores.
The two teams have met in each of the last five seasons with Vanderbilt winning twice at Notre Dame and three teams on their home turf. A year ago, the Commodores held off a second half Irish rally to take an 11-9 win at the Vanderbilt Lacrosse Stadium. The previous day, Notre Dame had recorded its first-ever win versus a ranked team as the Irish defeated 17th-ranked Delaware, 13-11, in Nashville.
This year, Vanderbilt comes into the game ranked 10th in the nation and is sporting a 9-4 overall record. The Commodores won the American Lacrosse Conference title and are 5-0 in the league. They close their league schedule on Saturday when they travel to Evanston, Ill., to face Northwestern.
Vanderbilt is led offensively by junior Jennie Crawley (31-5-36) and sophomore Jess Roguski (27-5-32). In goal, freshman Ashley Bastinelli has a 7-4 record with a 10.48 goals against and a .468 save percentage.
Notre Dame comes into its final regular season game looking to nail down a first-time bid to the NCAA tournament. Bids go out on Sunday, May 5 at 7:30 p.m. (CST). The Irish are 11-4 on the season and will look for their third win this season versus a ranked team. The Irish are 2-4 versus ranked teams with three of the losses coming by one goal and one of those losses coming in a triple overtime game versus Duke.
The Irish finished second in the BIG EAST with a 5-1 record with the lone loss coming to second-ranked Georgetown on April 20. The Hoyas get the BIG EAST’s automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. The Irish come into Friday’s game having won their last two on the road. Notre Dame’s 9-2 win at Rutgers last Sunday set a BIG EAST record for the fewest goals given up in a game and equalled the school mark.
Nationally, the Irish are ranked second defensively giving up just 7.33 goals per game. Goalkeeper Jen White (Jr., Annapolis, Md.) is fourth in the country with a 7.24 goals against and is 15th in save percentage with a .558 save mark. The 7.33 goals against is the best in the six-year history of the Notre Dame women’s lacrosse program.
Junior midfielder Danielle Shearer (Hampstead, Md.) leads the Irish in scoring with a career-high 53 points on 34 goals and 19 assists. She has recorded four points in each of her last three games. Shearer and teammate Natalie Loftus (Sr., Baltimore, Md.) became the third and fourth players in school history to score more than 100 points in their career. Shearer goes into Friday’s game with 90 goals and 39 assists for 129 career points. Loftus joined the “Century Club” last weekend with two goals and an assist at Rutgers. She now has 71 goals and 30 assists for 101 points. They join Lael O’Shaughnessy (1998-01) who ranks first with 122 goals and 68 assists for 190 points. Kerry Callahan (1997-99) is second with 83 goals and 63 assists for 146 points.
The Vanderbilt game also signals the end of seven players Notre Dame careers, as they will graduate later this month. The Irish will honor their Class of 2002 – Maureen Henwood (Marlton, N.J.), Kate Scarola (Windsor, Conn.), Loftus, Tina Fedarcyk (Millersville, Md.), Maureen Whitaker (Doylestown, Pa.), Kathryn Lam (Plainsboro, N.J.), Alissa Moser (North Wales, Pa.) along with senior manager Matt Farell (Vicksburg, Miss.) – and their parents in ceremonies prior to the game.