March 17, 2009
Notre Dame, Ind. – The Notre Dame women’s lacrosse team celebrated St. Patrick’s Day with a convincing 18-9 win over the Rutgers Scarlet Knights Tuesday night at the Loftus Sports Center in the BIG EAST opener for both teams.
Junior Gina Scioscia (Summit, N.J.) equaled a Notre Dame record by recording six assists in the game and with a pair of goals turned in a career-best, eight-point game. Her six-assist mark matched the six assists that Kerry Callahan `99 had exactly 10 years ago – March 17, 1999 – in a 20-10 win at Gannon.
Scioscia was joined on the scoresheet by Jillian Byers (Sr., Northport, N.Y.) who scored four times in the game. Ansley Stewart (So., Alexandria, Va.) followed with three goals and an assist for four points while Kaitlin Keena (So., Vienna, Va.) had three points (2g, 1a). Freshman Megan Sullivan (Winchester, Mass.) had the first two-goal game of her career and Maggie Tamasitis (Fr., Boyertown, Pa.), Shaylyn Blaney (So., Stony Brook, N.Y.), Jackie Doherty (So., Ellicott City, Md.), Kailene Abt (So., Huntington, N.Y.) and Beth Koloup (Sr., Phoenix, Md.) rounded out the goal scoring.
Rutgers was led by Michelle Poole with three goals and Mary Cryan added two goals in the game. Annie McGinley, Brooke Cantwell, Nina Frankoski and Jennifer Schmitt added one goal each in the game.
The win, Notre Dame’s sixth straight improves the Irish to 7-1 overall and 1-0 in the BIG EAST. The Scarlet Knights fall to 3-4 on the season an 0-1 in conference play.
The Irish wasted little time taking control of the game, scoring the first five goals of the game in a 12:05 span. Stewart got her first of three in the game as she beat goalkeeper Sandra Abel on a crease roll with 25:48 left in the half. Keena made it 2-0 just 37 seconds later at 25:11 for a 2-0 Notre Dame lead.
Abt converted a great feed from Scioscia from behind a 21:33 to make it 3-0. Koloup scored after she broke through the Rutgers defense, took a feed from Tamasitis and whipped a shot past Abel. Keena picked up her second of the game at 17:55 of the first period.
Rutgers would finally break through with 15:02 left in the half as Cryan beat Irish starter Erin Goodman with a free-position shot to cut the lead to 5-1. Byers scored once and Scioscia got her two goals in a 2:09 span to make it 8-1 before Brooke Cantwell stopped that run with 7:20 left in the half. Byers and Sullivan closed out the Irish scoring in the half and McGinley scored with one second left as Notre Dame led, 10-3, at the half.
Scioscia had two goals and three assists in the half on the way to her eight-point game.
In the second half, Notre Dame scored three of the first four goals to make it 13-4, as Stewart, Blaney and Byers put the Irish ahead by nine goals. Poole scored the first of her three goals at 26:47 on the way to leading the Scarlet Knights in scoring
Scioscia assisted on Byers’ goal for her fourth helper of the evening and would add two more late in the half on Byers’ fourth of the game and Tamasitis’ only goal.
Notre Dame would build the lead to 10 goals on Sullivan’s second of the night with 5:20 left in the game and Doherty’s goal made it 18-7 with 2:57 left in the game.
Schmitt and Poole got the final two goals of the night for Rutgers in the final two minutes for the final score of 18-9.
Notre Dame out shot Rutgers in the game, 31-22. Erin Goodman (Sr., Cortlandt Manor, N.Y.) played the first 47:37 of the game, giving up six goals while making seven saves. Amy Winik (Jr. Freehold, N.J.) played the final 12:23, surrendering three goals with one save. Abel played all 60 minutes for the Scarlet Knights and finished with eight saves in the contest.
The Irish will continue their five-game home stand on Sunday, March 22 when they play host to the California Golden Bears in a game that will be played at the Loftus Center with the opening draw set for 1:00 p.m.
IRISH NOTES
** Tuesday’s game marked the fourth time that the women’s lacrosse team has played on St. Patrick’s Day. The win improved the Irish to 4-0 in games played on March 17. The game was the first time since March 17, 2002 that the Irish played on their day.
** Gina Scioscia’s eight-point game was a career best for the Irish playmaker. Her previous best was a seven-poing game last season set against Rutgers (4/20/08) where she had two goals and five assists. She also had a seven-point game this season versus Duquesne in the season opener, scoring four goals with three assists.
GAME SUMMARY 1 2 - FRutgers (3-4/0-1) 3 6 - 9#11/#10 Notre Dame (7-1/1-0) 10 8 - 18
ScoringFirst Half:Time Team Score Goal Assist25:48 ND 1-0 Ansley Stewart25:11 ND 2-0 Kaitlin Keena Free-position shot21:33 ND 3-0 Kailene Abt Gina Scioscia20:50 ND 4-0 Beth Koloup Maggie Tamasitis17:55 ND 5-0 Kaitlin Keena (2)15:02 RU 5-1 Mary Cryan Free-position shot13:31 ND 6-1 Jillian Byers Free-position shot12:58 ND 7-1 Gina Scioscia Jackie Doherty11:22 ND 8-1 Gina Scioscia (2) Shaylyn Blaney 7:20 RU 8-2 Brooke Cantwell Annie McGinley 1:15 ND 9-2 Jillian Byers (2) Gina Scioscia (2) 0:15 ND 10-2 Megan Sullivan Gina Scioscia (3) 0:01 RU 10-3 Annie McGinley
Second HalfTime Team Score Goal Assist29:48 ND 11-3 Ansley Stewart (2)27:18 ND 12-3 Shaylyn Blaney26:47 RU 12-4 Michelle Poole Meghan Flanagan23:20 ND 13-4 Jillian Byers (3) Gina Scioscia (4)21:43 RU 13-5 Michelle Poole (2) Free-position shot21:26 ND 14-5 Ansley Stewart (3) Maggie Tamasitis (2)19:22 RU 14-6 Nina Frankoski 8:32 RU 14-7 Mary Cryan (2) 7:05 ND 15-7 Jillian Byers (4) Gina Scioscia (5) 6:23 ND 16-7 Maggie Tamasitis Gina Scioscia (6) 5:20 ND 17-7 Megan Sullivan (2) Kaitlin Keena 2:57 ND 18-7 Jackie Doherty 2:09 RU 18-8 Jennifer Schmitt Emily Penn 1:16 RU 18-9 Michelle Poole (3)
Goalkeepers:Notre Dame: Erin Goodman - 47:37 min; 6 goals against, 7 saves Amy Winik - 12:23 min; 3 goals against, 1 saveRutgers: Sandra Abel - 60:00 min; 18 goals against, 8 saves
Total Shots: Rutgers: 22; Notre Dame: 31Ground Balls: Rutgers: 16, Notre Dame: 19Draw Controls: Rutgers: 11, Notre Dame: 19Caused Turnovers: Rutgers: 5, Notre Dame: 9