Feb. 18, 2007
Charlottesville, Va. – The Notre Dame women’s lacrosse team opened the 2007 season with a dramatic 10-9 come-from-behind sudden-death overtime win over James Madison on Sunday afternoon at the University of Virginia’s University Hall Turf Field.
The game was moved to the University of Virginia due to snow and ice that made James Madison’s lacrosse field unplayable.
The win gives Notre Dame a 9-2 record in season openers and makes the fifth-ranked Irish 1-0 on the year. The Dukes of James Madison, ranked 12th in the nation, fall to 0-1.
Notre Dame was paced by sophomore Jillian Byers (Northport, N.Y.) who equaled a career high with six goals in the game, including the game winner with 15 seconds left in the third overtime period. Senior Meghan Murphy (Centennial, Colo.) and Caitlin McKinney (Jr., Lafayette Hill, Pa.) each scored two goals in the game. Heather Ferguson (Jr., Newtown Square, Pa.) had three assists in the game while senior Lena Zentgraf (Charlottesville, Va.) added two. Sophomore goalkeeper Erin Goodman (Cortlandt Park, N.Y.) recorded her first career win in her first career start, making seven saves.
Kelly Burger (five goals) and Natasha Fuchs (two goals) led the Dukes’ scoring attack.
“This was a huge win for us to get the season off on a positive way,” said head coach Tracy Coyne. “We struggled early against a very good team. We handled the adversity of the snow and the cold and being behind most of the game. In the end, we did what we had to do to get the win.”
The Irish got off to a slow start in this game, giving up four straight goals over the first 11:20 of the game as James Madison took a 4-0 lead.
Notre Dame finally got on the scoreboard at 13:40 of the first half when Byers got her first of the game and the season off a Ferguson set up. Murphy cut the lead to 4-2 with her first goal of the season at 11:01 and the score stayed that way until the end of the half.
Byers then ran off the first three goals of the second half to give the Irish their first lead of the game at 5-4 over the first 11 minutes of the second half. Burger tied the game at 18:11 and the Dukes made it 6-5 at 11:07. Murphy’s second goal of the afternoon tied the score at 66- with 9:28 left in the game.
The score stayed tied until their were 48 seconds left in the game when James Madison’s Annie Wagner put the Dukes’ ahead at 7-6.
Kristin Hopson (Sr., Rosemont, Pa.) came up with a big draw control following the goal and McKinney made it pay off with her first of the game with just 19 seconds left to send the contest to overtime.
In the first three-minute overtime, Berger scored twice with 41 seconds and two seconds left to put the Dukes ahead 9-7. The Irish answered back in the second overtime as Byers was set up by Murphy with 1:48 left to make it 9-8. McKinney got to play hero again as she evened the score at 9-9 with her second goal of the game with just nine seconds left.
The Irish took control in the first sudden-death overtime with Meaghan Fitzpatrick (Sr., Farmingdale, N.Y.) controlling another big draw to give Notre Dame possession and allowed the Irish to control the ball. After several scoring chances, Zentgraf was able to set up Byers for her sixth goal with 19 seconds left to give the Irish the 10-9 victory.
In the game, Notre Dame out shot James Madison by a 35-25 margin. Dukes’ goaltender Kelly Wetzel had 17 saves in the game.
Notre Dame opens the home schedule this coming weekend, Saturday, Feb. 24 when the Irish play host to the No. 18 Stanford Cardinal at the Loftus Sports Center. Game time is set for 12:00 noon.