March 22, 2008
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Hat tricks from junior Jillian Byers and freshman Shaylyn Blaney led the No. 11 Notre Dame women’s lacrosse team to a 13-10 victory over Loyola (Md.) in BIG EAST Conference play on Saturday afternoon inside the Loftus Sports Center.
Senior Caitlin McKinney chipped in two goals for the Fighting Irish, while sophomore Gina Scioscia had a team-high two assists. Grace Gavin paced the Greyhounds with four goals.
Notre Dame (6-3, 1-1) jumped on top 39 seconds into the contest on a goal from Jackie Doherty. Loyola (3-6, 1-3) evened the game one minute later as Cara Filippelli scored. Blaney would put the Irish up for good as she connected on a free-position shot with 27:19 left in the first half. McKinney gave Notre Dame a 3-1 lead with her first goal of the game.
Gavin scored to make it 3-2 before the Irish went on a 3-0 run. Goals from Heather Ferguson, Byers and Blaney made it 6-2 by the 22:48 mark of the opening stanza. Loyola tallied three of the game’s next four goals to slice the Notre Dame advantage to two (7-5) with 7:40 remaining in the half.
Another 3-0 spurt gave the Fighting Irish a five-goal advantage (10-5), which was their largest of the first half. Kaitlin Keena, McKinney and Byers notched goals in the surge. The Greyhounds’ Mary Claire Taylor scored with just three seconds left to make it 10-6 in favor of Notre Dame at the intermission.
Byers opened up the scoring in the second half with her third goal of the game and Kailene Abt followed to put Notre Dame up 12-6 with 24:12 left on the clock. The six-goal advantage was the largest of the afternoon for the Fighting Irish.
Loyola responded with four unanswered goals to trim the Irish lead to two (12-10) by the 11:59 mark of the second half. The Greyhounds did not score the rest of the way and Blaney’s third goal came with 1:05 left in regulation to put the game away and give Notre Dame the victory.
Notre Dame held a 30-26 edge in shots, while Irish goalkeeper Erin Goodman made seven saves. Loyola’s Megan Steffe had 12 stops.
The Fighting Irish are back in action at Hofstra on Tuesday, March 25. Game time is slated for 4:00 p.m. (ET).
GAME SUMMARY
Loyola (3-6, 1-3) - 6 4 - 10#11 Notre Dame (6-3, 1-1) - 10 3 - 13
FIRST HALFTime Team Score Goal Assist29:21 ND 1-0 Jackie Doherty Gina Scioscia28:21 LOY 1-1 Cara Filippelli Kate Filippelli27:19 ND 2-1 Shaylyn Blaney Free-position shot26:20 ND 3-1 Caitlin McKinney Shaylyn Blaney25:16 LOY 3-2 Grace Gavin24:13 ND 4-2 Heather Ferguson24:01 ND 5-2 Jillian Byers Gina Scioscia22:48 ND 6-2 Shaylyn Blaney Free-position shot14:51 LOY 6-3 Alicyn Brunnett Bridget O'Keefe11:28 ND 7-3 Gina Scioscia Kaitlin Keena9:40 LOY 7-4 Grace Gavin Free-position shot7:40 LOY 7-5 Grace Gavin Abby Rehfuss2:36 ND 8-5 Kaitlin Keena Free-position shot2:24 ND 9-5 Caitlin McKinney Jillian Byers1:57 ND 10-5 Jillian Byers0:03 LOY 10-6 Mary Claire Taylor Free-position shotSECOND HALF27:58 ND 11-6 Jillian Byers24:12 ND 12-6 Kailene Abt Heather Ferguson19:34 LOY 12-7 Alicyn Brunnett17:20 LOY 12-8 Grace Gavin Free-position shot16:45 LOY 12-9 Elizabeth Weber Emily Gibson11:59 LOY 12-10 Elizabeth Weber1:05 ND 13-10 Shaylyn Blaney