May 7, 2005
Notre Dame, Ind. – The Notre Dame women’s lacrosse team saw the 2005 season come to an end Saturday afternoon at Moose Krause Stadium on the wrong end of a 14-10 loss to the Ohio State Buckeyes. The Irish finished the campaign with six straight losses and a 3-12 overall record. The win snapped a six-game losing streak for the Buckeyes as they finished the season with a 6-10 record.
The Irish were led in the game by junior midfielder Crysti Foote (Suffern, N.Y.) and freshman attack standout Caitlin McKinney (Lafayette Hill, Pa.) as they both wrapped up successful seasons with three goals and one assist each. Seniors Jackie Bowers (Springfield, Pa.) and Lindsay Shaffer (Seneca Falls, N.Y.) closed their careers with two goals each.
Ohio State had a balanced attack with eight players getting in the goal-scoring column. Regina Oliver and Kelly Kremer led the way with three goals each with Ashley Evans and Natalie Miller scoring a pair. Kristian Slahor, Andrea Fischer, Brandie Williams and Molly Gilbert added one goal each. Slahor paced the Buckeyes with six points in the game as the freshman attack picked up five assists on the afternoon.
The day started out bright for the Irish as Foote picked up her first of the game just 38 seconds into the contest for a 1-0 lead. Evans and Kremer put Ohio State ahead, 2-1, with goals just 1:05 apart, just 1:30 and 2:35 into the game.
From there, Notre Dame ran off four straight goals on the way to a 5-2 lead. McKinney picked up her first of the day at 3:19 to tie the game at 2-2. The score stayed that way for over seven minutes before Bowers gave the Irish a 3-2 lead off a Foote feed at the 10:35 mark. McKinney got her second goal of the 4-0 run at 13:35 and Foote got her second of the game with a free-position goal at the 14:10 mark for a 5-2 Irish lead.
Ohio State snapped the Notre Dame run when Miller got her first of two on the day at 16:03. Oliver cut the lead to 5-4 at 22:23 and Williams’ free-position goal 33 seconds later at 22:56 knotted the score at 5-5.
McKinney picked up her third of the half on a spectacular goal at 27:13. Mary Carpenter (Fr., Rochester, N.Y.) carried the ball down the right side and found the freshman attack racing towards the goal. McKinney picked Carpenter’s high pass out of mid-air and in the same motion fired it high over Buckeye goalkeeper, Kim Hastings for a 6-5 Irish lead.
With time running out in the half, the Irish were whistled for a foul with 18 seconds left in the half and Miller tied the game with a free-position shot to send the game into halftime at 6-6.
The second half saw Ohio State rip off the first five goals to build an 11-6 lead. Oliver put the Bucks ahead to stay just 3:48 in and made it 8-6 at 7:26 as she converted a feed from Kristian Slahor, her first of five assists on the afternoon.
Slahor set up a Molly Gilbert goal at 11:29 and two by Kelly Kremer one minute apart at 13:26 and 14:26 to make it 11-6.
Shaffer, playing in the final game of her Notre Dame career, stopped that Ohio State run with a free-position goal at 16:16 to make it 11-7, but Evans scored her second of the game at 19:02 to regain the five goal lead.
The Irish staged a mini-rally with Foote getting her third of the game and Shaffer her second to make it 12-9, but the Irish would get no closer.
Slahor showed she could also score with an unassisted marker at 25:40 and then set up her fifth goal of the game, getting Fischer on the score sheet with a goal at 27:37 to make it 14-9.
Bowers would close the scoring with an unassisted goal at 29:17 for her two-goal game and the final of 14-10.
On the afternoon, Ohio State out shot Notre Dame, 28-26. Hastings finished with nine saves in the game while Carol Dixon (Sr., Pennsauken, N.J.) had seven stops for the Irish.
For Notre Dame, seven seniors played their final games in Irish uniforms. The class of 2005 consists of: Bowers, Maura Costello (Manhasset, N.Y.), Dixon, Bridget Higgins (Wilton, Conn.), Jess Mikula (Chester, Md.), Shaffer and senior manager Carolyn Gass (Grand Rapids, Mich.).
IRISH NOTES:
** Crysti Foote finished the season with career highs in goals (34), assists (16), and points (50). She also closed the year with a 10-game point streak (26-12-38).
** Caitlin McKinney fell just one point short of tying the Notre Dame record for points in a year by a freshman. McKinney had 28 goals and 12 assists for 40 points this year. That’s one behind the mark set by Courtney Calabrese (38-3-41) and Lael O’Shaughnessy (27-14-41) in 1998.
** Lindsay Shaffer’s two-goal game was her second this year and the second of her career. She finished with seven goals and one assist for eight points this season.
Game Summary: 1 2 - FOhio State (6-10) 6 8 - 14Notre Dame (3-12) 6 4 - 10
SCORINGOHIO STATE:GOALS: Regina Oliver (3), Kelly Kremer (3), Ashley Evans (2), Natalie Miller (2), Kristian Slahor, Andrea Fischer, Brandie Williams, Molly Gilbert.ASSISTS: Kristian Slahor (5), Ashley Evans.
NOTRE DAME:GOALS: Crysti Foote (3), Caitlin McKinney (3), Jackie Bowers (2), Lindsay Shaffer (2).ASSISTS: Mary Carpenter, Crysti Foote, Caitlin McKinney.
First Half ScoringTeam Time Score Goal AssistND 00:38 1-0 Crysti FooteOSU 1:30 1-1 Ashley EvansOSU 2:35 1-2 Kelly Kremer Ashley EvansND 3:19 2-2 Caitlin McKinneyND 10:35 3-2 Jackie Bowers Crysti FooteND 13:35 4-2 Caitlin McKinney (2)ND 14:10 * 5-2 Crysti Foote (2) Free-position shotOSU 16:02 5-3 Natalie MillerOSU 22:23 5-4 Regina OliverOSU 22:56 * 5-5 Brandie Williams Free-position shotND 27:13 6-5 Caitlin McKiney (3) Mary CarpenterOSU 29:42 * 6-6 Natalie Miller (2) Free-position shot
Second Half ScoringTeam Time Score Goal AssistOSU 3:48 6-7 Regina Oliver (2)OSU 7:26 6-8 Regina Oliver (3) Kristian SlahorOSU 11:29 6-9 Molly Gilbert Kristian Slahor (2)OSU 13:26 6-10 Kelly Kremer (2) Kristian Slahor (3)OSU 14:26 6-11 Kelly Kremer (3) Kristian Slahor (4)ND 16:16 * 7-11 Lindsay Shaffer Free-position shotOSU 19:02 7-12 Ashley EvansND 22:12 8-12 Crysti Foote (3)ND 25:10 9-12 Lindsay Shaffer (2) Caitlin McKinneyOSU 25:10 9-13 Kristian SlahorOSU 27:37 9-14 Andrea Fischer Kristian Slahor (5)ND 29:17 10-14 Jackie Bowers (2)
* denotes free position goal
GoalkeepersOSU: Kim Hastings (60:00 min; 10 goals against; 9 saves)ND: Carol Dixon (60:00 min; 14 goals against; 7 saves)
Shots On Goal: OSU - 28; ND - 26Ground balls: OSU - 16; ND - 25Draw Controls: OSU - 16; ND - 10Caused Turnovers: OSU - 8; ND - 14